Naruto: The Natural Biotic
by Acolyte of Truth
Summary: In hindsight,prehaps listening to kyuubi wasn't the best idea. However, with the door to his past now closed, where does the new door to his future lead? Read to see how powerful a biotic a shinobi can be. Slow updates.
1. The Discovery

Hmm? Oh, you actually decided to show up. Ahem, well, that's a bit unexpected. Either way, welcome to my fourth story here on , and I would like to say, I'm quite glad that I get to post this idea for all you shark to pick away at bit by bit. That being said, I plan on this story to focus more on Naruto's interaction with other characters than on action, though I will put that in as often as possible. Also, this is based on my Shepard and Naruto will replace Lt. Alenko, and he will be paired with Jack So, without further ado, let us delve into the new world of "The Natural Biotic". After a brief disclaimer, of course.

/////

Disclaimer: Acolyte was kicking about his home, when he was interrupted by a knock at the door. When he opened it, whom should he find but Mike, his best friend/patsy/meat shield. "Hmm, what is it?" he asked.

Mike reached into his jacket and pulled out a manila folder, which he then handed off to Acolyte. "This is your new assignment." With that he was gone. Acolyte quickly checked the area and shut the door, hurrying to his study, where he began reading the folders contents.

"Hmm, it appears to be a code. Let's see. 'I don't own Mass Effect or Naruto'." Acolyte blinked a few times, before realization hit him. "Ahh, fuck, another story. I hate you, Mike."

/////

Chapter 1: The Discovery

A blonde haired figure was running through the treetops at an amazing speed. He was of average height and build, and had a slight tan. His hair was naturally spiky and his deep blue eyes sparkled with determination. He had three whisker-like marks marring each cheek and was dressed in an orange jumpsuit with black sleeves. Over that was a red jacket.

If you have yet to figure out who this individual is yet, then seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you? It is none other than Uzumaki Naruto. Now that that's cleared up, you may ask why he was rushing off through the trees. Well, the answer to that is quite simple. He was hurrying off to save his village.

The hope he clung to told him that he would arrive in time, that everything would be all right, that he would be the hero and stop the undefeatable Pein. The man who had killed his sensei, his godfather. However, despite this, his gut wouldn't let go of the feeling that something was going to happen, that he would damn everybody, himself included. In other word, he would somehow royally fuck up, and he didn't know how.

'_No!'_ he thought. _'I won't let that bastard get away with this. Even if I die, I will make sure that my precious people survive. Every last one of them.'_ With that, his level of determination rose and he increased his pace even more. He had been training for this moment. He had been practicing the sage arts, and he was confident that he could win. So why was something telling him he couldn't?

He was getting closer. He could feel it. He was suddenly stopped cold as he felt a tremendous blast of energy. But it wasn't chakra. It was more… refined, almost. More potent, more protective, more… everything.

The influence of it was so strong that he just stopped, wondering what to do. Luckily for him, he didn't have to make the decision. _**'For a millennia, I have longed to feel the embrace of this power again. Go towards it, ningen. You know you cannot resist its call.' **_Why Naruto listened to the Bijuu, he would never know. He would never get the chance to get an answer. Regardless, his body just seemed to move on its own accord.

Within minutes he had found the source. It was like a spike rising up from the earth, but Naruto could tell it was not natural, despite the fact that it was covered in moss and vines. It reached up about fifteen feet, and it gave off a glowing green power. The blonde stood before it in awe. This was a power from out of this world. A deep voice broke him from his stupor. _**'Please, I'm so close. I beg of you! Just touch the beacon!'**_

Naruto approached even closer, and before he could fully comprehend what he was doing, he touched the beacon. And then, his world exploded into a green light and a burning pain, and then it all faded to black.

/////

Naruto awoke to find himself lying in a medical bed. However, this one was different than any other one he had been in. to start off, the room he was in wasn't the pristine white he was used to, nor did it reek of antiseptics.

Instead it was dimly lit, and while the smell was there, it subtle. However, what really caught his attention was all the technology that surrounded him. Various machines, most of which were barely recognizable to him. Now he was afraid.

So engrossed in his surroundings he was that he didn't notice the other presence in the room. The sudden voice caught him off guard and caused him to jump from the bed. "You shouldn't be up. Quite frankly, I'm surprised you're still alive."

Naruto turned to the man who spoke to him. He was dressed in a neat pressed blue uniform, various medals decorating it. He stood with his hands folded behind his back, his chest puffed out. He had a black beard and a hat covered his head. The man's presence reeked of authority. "Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?"

"You're not the one in charge right now, kid. I am. Now, we'll start off easy. What's your name?" from the man's posture and the way his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, Naruto knew he meant business. He himself wanted answers, but the best way that was going to happen was to listen to the man in front of him.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said begrudgingly.

"Uzumaki huh? Sounds Asian. Now, where are you from?" the man sounded slightly pleased with his cooperation.

"Konoha, sir."

The man looked puzzled and pulled his right arm in front of him. A transparent orange gauntlet appeared on his arm. Naruto watched, shocked, as the man seemed to fiddle with it for a bit. He let out an impatient growl as he dismissed the device. "This isn't the time for games, boy! Now, where are you from?"

"I told you, I'm from Konoha!" Naruto gave an indignant response of his own. He wasn't expecting a hand to wrap around his neck as he was pushed into the wall behind him.

"Do you take me and the rest of the Alliance for fools?!? There is now settlement inside or out side of the Terminus System! I'll ask once more before I snap your fucking neck. I have no qualms with harming a child. Now, answer the fucking question!"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about! I've never heard of the Terminus System!" Naruto gasped out, trying to pry the hand off his neck. He saw the intent in the man's eyes, and just as he was about to flex the muscles in his hand, Naruto's instincts took over.

Unconsciously, he summoned as much chakra as he could around his body and condensed it. He unleashed it in a wave of power, causing the man to fly into a wall and the room to sway, the lights flickering. Just as he felt his feet touch the ground, the metal door slid open with a slight hiss.

A woman ran up to the man and checked him for injuries, keeping an eye on Naruto the whole time. Are you okay, Admiral?" the man got up with some assistance and fixed the woman with a look.

"Doctor, you told me he tested negative for biotic implants!"

"H-he did! I ran the test numerous times! There were no indications of implants!"

"Bullshit! There is no way in hell that he could do that without implants! No fucking…" he cut himself off as he looked at Naruto, wide-eyed. "Kid, what's the last thing you remember?"

Naruto was a bit shocked by the question. "I… well I… I don't know. All I remember is a deep voice. Then… then there was a green light. Then I'm here."

"Do you remember anything about your life before that?"

Naruto just shook his head. It was strange. Naruto tried to jog his memory for anything. All he could remember was the green light, the voice, and a place called Konoha. He couldn't actually remember the place or anything else.

"I see. Allow me to fill in the blanks. We found you drifting in space, surrounded by some type of force field. At first, we didn't know what it was. However, I now believe it was a barrier. It could have been brought on by extreme distress, like a few moments ago."

"But how is that possible! That would require implants and…" she was cut of.

"Exactly. But you said he had no implants. Also, he doesn't seem to be able to control himself, nor can he remember much of his past. I think… I think he's a natural biotic."

/////

For the next eight years, much had happened to Naruto. Almost immediately after it was discovered that he was a natural biotic, the Admiral had taken it upon himself to teach him everything about the world around him.

He was taught of the Alliance, humanities involvement in the First Contact War, of the Citadel, of other alien races. He learned of the technology, like FTL drives, space travel, mass relays, weaponry, omni-tools, and, of course, biotics, so he could better understand his situation.

Despite how none of this rang any bells, he accepted it as the truth, and found that along with biotics, he was quite adept with machinery, hacking, and the like, though he wasn't proficient with any weaponry besides pistols. He was sent to a special place where he learned to control his powers.

After which, he was enlisted into the Alliance, where he worked like a dog. Through determination and a show of skill, he rose through the ranks until he achieved the title of Lieutenant. He served on various ships in the years following, and was constantly transferred.

However, none of this could calm him. He always felt as if something was off, as if this wasn't right. Something in the back of his mind always told him he had forgotten something big. He always kept this secret, though.

He was fairly content with his life now. He didn't want to make connections, and he wasn't quite comfortable around these aliens, but he would bear with it. Life was going swimmingly, but little did Naruto know, his new commander was going to get him into a lot of shit eventually. Neither of them could have seen it coming.

/////

And there you go, the first chapter in Naruto's life as a spacer. I know I just made generalizations and could have gone into more detail, but oh well. I don't know when you can expect the next chapter, but this is a side project, so don't get your hopes up.

Next time: Naruto meets Shepard, they get assigned to the Normandy, and they discover Eden Prime's secret. Stay tuned if you are not thoroughly disgusted.


	2. Start of an Astounding Future

Hey there everybody. Yeah, sorry for the wait, but I told you updates would be few and far between. My justification is that I want to spread this story out until the release of Mass Effect 3 in 2011-2012 so I can continue the story from there, as opposed to finish this quickly and put it on hiatus until then. So, yeah.

In other news, last chapter received more reviews than I anticipated. Hell, it doubled the number of most consecutive reviews I've gotten for a chapter. Though, I wish that they were all coherent. You know who you are. Oh yeah, before I forget, Naruto can use conventional biotic abilities because the beacon helped change the makeup of his chakra while infusing it with some of the Kyuubi's, thus making it a bit more natural to him and easier to control. I think that's it. So onward!

/////

Disclaimer: Do I wish I owned or was even a part of BioWare? Yes. What about that crazy Japanese magazine whose name escapes me at the moment, or even one of Kishimoto's underling's? Yes. Unfortunately, I am none of these. However, I am the proprietor of this piece of fiction, and what I say goes, even what Commander Shepard's personality and actions. Well, at least that's something.

/////

Chapter 2: The Start of an Astounding Future

Lieutenant Naruto Uzumaki sat in a chair in the Human Alliance office. He was dressed in some standard dark green battle armor with a Raikou pistol strapped to his side and a file in his lap. The blonde had just been transferred, yet again, about to be stationed on another ship. So now he was waiting for his new superior officer to show up.

However, the wait was causing him to be bored out of his mind. He had been here waiting for about forty-five minutes for the guy to show up, and he had yet to come. Then again, he was used to the wait, and even considered himself lucky.

It was probably the ninth time this had happened. It was always the same story; he didn't quite get along with his commanding officer or someone else on the crew and got into a fight. Regularly, he would have been let go by now, but people saw the potential he held, and thus he was kept.

'_Yeah right,' _he thought. _'The only reason they're interested in me is because they see me as a weapon.'_ He grinned a bit as he continued to think. _'After all, how rare is a natural biotic? It's a great bargaining chip that could be devastating if it fell into the wrong hands. The only way the Alliance can keep a close enough eye on me is if I'm in their program. Ah well. At least the job pays well enough, I can keep the possessions of what I kill, I can see the galaxy, and I can shoot shit. That's good enough for me.'_

Then, there was the other reason that he was a bit on edge with anticipation. He actually wanted to meet who he was serving under. Granted, he had only heard about him in a few passing stories, but now that he knew what was fact about what the man did, he was by far impressed. It was strange, since usually a soldier wasn't allowed to access a file on a superior officer, but hey, he wasn't complaining. With a sigh of boredom and nothing better to do, Naruto once again read the file he had requested, seeing how his mind was on the topic anyway.

Name: Virgil Shepard

_Sex: Male_

_D.O.B.: April 11, 2154_

_Height: 5'11_

_Weight: 187 lbs._

_Military Specialization: Infiltrator_

_Rank: Lieutenant Commander_

_Background: Shepard was born and raised on the human border colony of Mindoir in the Attican Traverse. At the age of sixteen, slavers raided his home, slaughtering most everyone they came by, Shepard's parents included. Shepard was saved by an Alliance patrol and enlisted a few years later._

_Career: Many have called Shepard cold, calculating, and brutal. Most of his associates have been wary of him. Although throughout his career Shepard had exhibited an attitude to do whatever it takes to complete a mission, no one ever really knew how far he would go. One of the more notable events in Shepard's record would be the Battle of Torfan, where this quality was on full display. During this time, he sent no less than three-fourths of his squad to their deaths and slaughtered numerous surrendering Batarians. Many of Shepard's superior officers agree that what was done was necessary and he has been the first one called when failure is not an option._

Naruto was stopped from reading the rest, most of which consisted of reports and penalties, as he heard footsteps coming to the doorway. His suspicions were confirmed as the door slid open with a metallic 'hiss' to reveal who he had heard walking down the hallway.

It actually turned out to be two people, both human. The first man appeared to be of African-American descent. He was dressed in some blue clothing and had no apparent weapon on him. For Naruto, this man was inconsequential. It was the other individual who walked in flanking him.

The other man was Caucasian. He had short-cropped brown-hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. His serious brown-eyes surveyed the area carefully. He was dressed in black N-7 armor with red stripes. He had a Karpov pistol at his hip and a Volkov sniper rifle strapped to his back. Naruto also couldn't help but notice that the man had some facial scarring on the left side of his face and forehead.

The man's eyes finally met Naruto's. It was passive, but there was also some recognition in it from both parties. The stare-off only lasted a few second before Naruto stood straight up and saluted both of the men, file tucked under the arm held straight at his side.

The black man nodded to him. "At ease, Uzumaki." Naruto put his arm down but didn't relax his posture at all. "I suppose you know why you're here?"

The whiskered blond gave a slight nod. "I understand that I am being transferred under your command and from this moment foreword am yours to do with as you please. I haven't been given the specifics of any more than that."

"I see." The man paused, thinking of exactly what to say next. Finally, something came to him. "You can call me Captain Anderson, Uzumaki." He extended his hand, which Naruto promptly and firmly shook. "Now, you see, in a weeks time, we will be embarking on a mission, of which you were specially chosen for to act as Staff Lieutenant. The aspects of this mission are on a strictly need to know bases, and you will be told more later. I highly suggest that you talk with Commander Shepard here, get to know him. You'll be seeing a lot of him soon. He can probably answer some questions you have better than I can." And with that, the captain left, the door sliding closed behind him.

Naruto now turned to once again regard the commander. The man also faced him completely, unblinking as he stared into Naruto's deep blue eyes. Finally, Shepard broke the silence. "I take it that's my file you have under your arm."

The blonde's eyes widened a bit at the statement, knowing he had been caught looking at a superior officer's file. However, they quickly narrowed in suspicion. "You don't sound very surprised, Commander." All Naruto received was a shrug as the other man folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall behind him.

"Well, I did tell the file clerk to allow you access to it should you choose to learn more about me. I find myself quite curious, how do you feel about being in the presence of a man like me, knowing what I did. I highly doubt we see eye to eye on most topics."

Naruto slightly relaxed his posture, but still remained on guard. "I know you have reasons for what you did. That doesn't mean I necessarily agree with your methods. I do have a high amount of respect for you, though. Not many people can do what you do."

He was met with a nod. "Thank you. You are one of the few who don't jump to conclusions based on what you've read in a file or a rumor you heard from someone."

"I do have a question, though." Shepard looked at Naruto, waiting for any kind of question that may come. "Do you blame all Batarians for what happened on your home planet? You seem to be especially hard on them."

"In other words, you want to know if I'm a racist?" the commander interrupted, drawing a nod from Naruto. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When his eyes opened, he just seemed to stare off into space. "No one has ever asked me that before." There was a pause. "Let me tell you something no one else knows."

Naruto was curious. Why did the commander trust him so much? They had only just met. Now he was about to tell him something about his life he never told anyone else? This was strange. Regardless, Naruto allowed Shepard to continue.

"I remember," he started off. "I can remember everything that ever happened to me, every nightmare I've had to endure, it's just how my mind works. I've shot a total of three-thousand-seven-hundred-eighty-six shots from this pistol exactly." As he said this, he pulled the gun previously holstered at his side for a reference. "I remember all the faces of those I've shot and those who've shot at me. I remembered as those fucking Batarian slaver shit-sacks raped my mother, then slaughtered her and my father like some wild pigs." Shepard's fist tightly clenched as his body began to shake in rage and remorse. Naruto watched with concern before the trembling subsided and the commanded regained a calm demeanor. "I also remember the one Batarian that kept me silent in the closet so that the others wouldn't find me. It was thanks to that one person that I'm probably here today. He mysteriously 'disappeared' after that day."

Shepard stopped momentarily to take a breath and holster his weapon. Naruto tried to digest all the new information during this time. It was kind of hard to believe, really. A slaver protecting someone from being found? Deep down, Naruto knew Shepard wasn't making it up. Suddenly, a question came to him. "So then why did you kill all those Batarians on Torfan?"

"Well, if you ask any of the government or military officials, I was just doing my job. You ask anyone who disagrees with the humans, it's because I'm a murderer and I did it for fun. Neither of those answers is fully correct. You see, I recognized most of those faces. Turns out, the slavers who attacked Mindoir eventually turned to bigger conquests. I found this out after most of my squad was already gone. I pushed the rest to their full potential until the Batarians surrendered. It was easy from there. One bullet to the head for each piece of trash. I did what was necessary so that no one would ever be terrorized by those assholes again. Nothing more, nothing less." As he finished, Shepard broke off from staring into space and fixed his gaze on Naruto. "So, what's you're story?"

At this, the blonde inhaled a deep sigh. "I take it you also read my file?" all he received was a curt nod. "Well, that's all there is to me. I don't remember much else besides the name of the place I was from, which apparently doesn't exist."

"I see. Must be a pain in the ass," was Shepard's nonchalant reply.

"It was, especially when I was initially 'found'." Naruto used air-quotes to emphasize his distress. "Hell, I was nearly killed over it until they found out that I was a natural biotic." Both men were silent, going over the information they had been given by the other, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of the room. "Why do you trust me so much?" Naruto suddenly asked.

Shepard at least had the decency to look a bit surprised by the sudden question, though not very, opting to only raise an eyebrow. "Why? Simply put, I believe trust is the foundation to any decent relationship. I figure the sooner we learn to trust each other, the sooner we can do our mission efficiently. Might as well be civil if we're going to' be seeing a lot of each other. If that's all, we should probably get going. We'll meet at the Presidium in seven days. Contact me if you need anything." And with that, Shepard turned to the door, preparing to leave.

"Wait," said Naruto, "I have one last question."

"What is it?" the commander turned around fully to face the blonde.

"Why did you choose me? I'm sure there's plenty of other people better fitted for this job than me, so why not them?"

"I don't recall saying it was my choice to bring you on board, Naruto."

"But it was you, wasn't it? I can tell." The conviction in Naruto's voice was absolute, leaving no room for questions, and denial useless.

Shepard remained silent for a few moments, just staring at Naruto. Just as he began to become slightly unnerved, his superior spoke. "I'm interested in you. I want to see what a real human biotic can do in battle. You're a curious individual, your lack of a past only heightening that aspect of you. Also, I know the members of the crews that previously blew you off. Unlike them, I can actually give you a chance. Think about what you really want, Naruto, then we'll talk." And with that the commander left.

Naruto was the only individual left as the door closed. He spent a few minutes trying to decipher what had just happened. When that failed, he grudgingly returned to his temporary quarters, intent to get some rest and worry about everything else later.

/////

The days passed by quickly, and, before Naruto knew it, the week was up. Fully dressed in his armor and with his pistol at his hip, he took a rapid transit to the Presidium. He arrived to find the place pretty crowded.

At a loss for what to do, he just stayed there, wondering where the Commander and Captain Anderson were. He was answered when he heard the voice of the former call out to him. "Uzumaki! Over here!" the blonde turned his head to see the Captain in formal dress and Shepard by his side, looking as imposing and disinterested as ever.

He quickly but calmly made his way over to them and saluted when he got close. "Lieutenant Uzumaki reporting for duty, sir." He relaxed as he received a nod.

"Right on time, Lieutenant. We've taken care all of the legal matters and are ready to depart. Do you have everything?" asked Anderson.

Naruto nodded. "I handed my belongings over earlier this morning to an Alliance Officer. Everything else I have on my person."

"Good, then we can leave immediately. Follow us to the docks." With another nod, Naruto fell into step behind Shepard. As they piled into a transport, Naruto's curiosity had him ask a question.

"Pardon my asking, sir, but you still haven't told me exactly what this mission is. Care to enlighten me?"

"I'll tell you more when we get to the ship, but for now, I'll tell you that this is a new chapter in the book of humanity. Recently, we've worked on a conjoined project and produced a state of the line spacecraft. Nothing like it has ever been seen before and it has cost us billions just to have it commissioned."

Naruto accepted the captain's answer and kept quiet for the rest of the relatively short trip. When they arrived at the dock, he was absolutely astounded.

"I-is that the ship?" he asked in awe.

"Indeed it is. Welcome to the Normandy, Uzumaki."

/////

When Anderson said the ship was state of the line, he wasn't kidding. One look at the mass effect core told him that much. It was running quite silently for all the power it had. Really, the ship cloaking mechanisms for fuck's sake. He'd never seen anything close to this on all the ships he'd served on.

His only complaint was that the elevator could move a little faster. I mean, seriously, they could create ship with FLT drives and relays that could take someone from one side of the galaxy to the other in a matter of days, but they couldn't rig a damn elevator to go faster than two miles an hour? What the fuck?

Making a vow to use the stairs from now on, Naruto arrived on the top level of the ship and walked up to the cockpit, where he found the pilot, obviously, doing a systems check. Naruto casually took a seat near him. At the sudden intrusion, the pilot looked up and asked a simple question. "Who're you?"

Naruto looked over to the man. He was of slightly less then average build and was unshaven. He had a hat on top of his head and was looking at him with curiosity. "I'm Staff Lieutenant Naruto Uzumaki. You can call me Naruto. Who might you be?"

The man gave a cocky yet good-natured smile as he introduced himself. "I'm Jeff Moreau, the pilot of this here ship and the best damn pilot you'll ever meet. Nice to meet you. You can call me Joker."

"Joker?" Naruto asked, curious.

"Please don't ask right now. Maybe I'll tell you later. I'd buckle up if I were you. We're about to take off." Naruto obliged as he sat back, preparing both for take off and what awaited him in the future.

/////

And there you have it. It's longer than chapter one, but I still plan to try to make the chapters longer. I was hoping to get this out earlier, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Oh well. I'll try to be better with next update.

Next time, the crew arrives on Eden Prime. Why are they here and what's gonna' happen? Stay tuned. This chapter was 3,075 words long!


	3. First Sign of Trouble

Welcome, loyal readers, to chapter three of The Natural Biotic. First off, I'd like to thank you for hanging in there for this chapter. Now, for some good news. As you now, I am currently writing three stories, this one included. On one of them, I'm almost at a good break point, only three chapters left. As soon as I finish chapter fifteen of Mistakes In Blood, I will focus on this story for maybe a month. So hang in there, and until then, let's get rolling.

/

Disclaimer: I am but a man. A man who owns little and claims less. A man with abysmal amounts of aspiration and motivation in the real world. I have few wishes and enjoy a simple life. Therefore, it would be illogical for me to own any big name businesses or franchises. And that's a fact.

/

Chapter 3: The First Sign of Trouble

Naruto was wondering around the ship, looking for something to do and admiring the technology around him. Right away, he noticed a few similarities between this ship and other human vessels he had served on. However, he also noticed the Turian design elements of the ship, such as the main deck setup.

Naruto had always been intrigued by technology of all kinds; Asari, Turian, Human, Salarian, all of it was a different piece of the same puzzle that was evolution. And this ship showed what was in store for the future of the military. That is, if this mission was successful and they found a cheaper way to build this thing.

However, despite how interested he was in the ship, he soon found he had explored most all of the ship, and even if the machinery could be examined further, he would have plenty of time to do that later. So, as it was, the blonde was left looking for something to do. And failing.

So, here Naruto was, left to his own devices. It was at times like this he wished he had a close friend. Sure, he talked to people on previous assignments and had gotten along with them relatively well, but never really opened up to any of them. Sure, he could go and talk to Joker, but there was only so much of the man he could take at once.

He had tried looking for Shepard; the man seemed to want to have a good relationship with him, but Naruto swore that the man was a ghost. He had scoured every inch of the ship, and had seen no trace of the man every since he had first boarded the Normandy. It was strange.

No one seemed to notice him as he once again walked onto the ship's elevator, which would bring him back down to the lower levels of the ship. That was where the armory was located. He figured if there was nothing better to do, he could at least tinker with his armor a bit and see if it could be upgraded. He recalled seeing a requisitions officer before; maybe he had some parts to help with the modifications.

He disembarked from the slow elevator and began a slow walk towards the weapons lockers, sparing a glance at the MAKO assault vehicle as he went. He could only imagine what it would be like to help pilot the thing, and truthfully, the blonde was excited, waiting for the chance to set it through its paces.

He cut his eyes away, letting the small grin on his face disappear. There was no use in fantasizing about such things. However, with nothing to do now, he began thinking; something he found wasn't very healthy for him. He had to wonder, all those years ago when he was found, how had he ended up in space? Why did he have no memory of getting there? Hell, how did he erect a barrier strong enough to withstand the vacuum of space? How was he even able to use biotics? Why couldn't this 'Konoha' place be found?

Despite going over this many times before, he never found any answers. In fact, a few times when he thought about his apparently non-existent past, he had discovered more questions. It agitated the hell out of him. However, like many times before, he got rid of the scowl on his face and gave a sigh of defeat, promising not to think about it any more. What was done was done. It didn't matter anymore.

As it was, Naruto wasn't paying very good attention. He was soon knocked back into reality as he bumped into something. No, someone, he realized when he heard a grunt similar to his own. Looking up, Naruto saw a man. He had a shaved head and was about a bit taller than him. Then again, the latter wasn't a very remarkable feat. The man wasn't really outstanding other than those things, actually.

Shaking his head, Naruto said a quick apology. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." The man just waved him off.

"It's fine." The man had a good-natured smile on his face as he held out his hand. "You can call me Jenkins. Who might you be?" Naruto looked at the hand for a brief moment before he shook it.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet you, Jenkins." The man's eyes showed confusion at his name, before they seemed to light up with understanding. The smile soon returned to his face.

"Huh, so you're that 'Natural Biotic' guy I've been hearing about? You don't look like much. Hell, I could probably take you." Now it was Naruto's turn to be confused, not quite understanding where this was going. However, it soon clicked, and he couldn't keep the grin from his face.

"Was that a challenge I heard? Believe me, you don't even want to try." Through this whole time, the two were still shaking hands, slowly squeezing harder and harder. Jenkins just chuckled.

"Nice grip you got there. And believe me, I do. Not like a pipsqueak like you could really be that much of a threat." Naruto just growled at the jab about his height, something that didn't escape Jenkins' notice. "How old are ya', kid?"

"I'm twenty-six, and you're not that much taller than me."

"Heh Heh, so you admit you're shorter than me. And really, twenty-six? Wow, they must just be handing out Lieutenant positions."

"Or I'm just highly skilled."

"From what I hear, you don't even have any implants. Even if you can use your powers naturally, I doubt they can be that powerful."

Now, Naruto's grin finally returned. He released Jenkins' hand and turned around. "Well, there's only one to find out. Come on." Jenkins was quick to follow the blonde to the elevator.

"Hey, where are we going kid?" he asked once the elevator began its slow climb upwards.

"The med-bay." When he received a look from his companion, he explained. "Hey, I want there to be immediate help in case I hurt you too much. I don't want you to die, after all."

There was Jenkins' shit-eating grin again. "Heh, keep dreaming." The elevator soon came to a halt and the two men disembarked the machine. "You know, for this being a state-of-the-art ship and all, you'd think the elevator wouldn't take about a minute to get from one floor to the other."

"Agreed," said Naruto as they ascended the stairs, taking a left as soon as they were on the main deck. The doors to the med-bay slid open, causing the doctor to look up; an older woman with chin-length grey hair and blue eyes. She gave a sigh, seeing Naruto's companion.

"Jenkins, what are you doing here. And who's your friend?"

"Doctor Chakwas, this here is Lieutenant Naruto Uzumaki, the so called 'Natural Biotic'. If you don't mind, I'm gonna' prove that he's really no threat."

Chakwas just looked at him. "Did you hit your head one too many times? Because that's just stupid." Naruto held out his hand.

"Don't worry ma'am, I promise that I won't hurt him too much. Maybe." The doctor, seeing that it was hopeless, just sighed and stepped aside. Jenkins quickly occupied the space she previously occupied.

"Okay, now just give me your best biotic kick. I'll stop it and show you that your title is just a bunch of words." Naruto took a stance, his grin matching Jenkins'. The doctor just shook her head at the idiocy before her.

After a few seconds, Naruto launched a kick into Jenkins, his legs covered in a faint blue veil. The other man quickly brought his arms up to block as the kick impacted. Now, for a reason Naruto didn't quite know, he was naturally strong; stronger than most, actually. That being said, he limited the amount of biotic energy he put into his kick.

However, that didn't stop Jenkins from being launched across the room. The man slammed into the wall with a boom that resounded throughout the relatively enclosed room, landing right next to the door, kicking up papers. Naruto and the doctor shared a look before rushing to the man's side.

"I think you may have broken his back with that one, Naruto."

"Hey, I swear that I only used about a tenth of my potential. Besides, it's not like he wasn't asking for it." the blonde looked at Jenkins, slapping his face lightly a few times. The man's eyes son fluttered open.

"My god Jenkins, are you okay?" asked Chakwas as Naruto helped him to his feet. The blonde let go of him and let Jenkins stand, wobbly and unsure, before he finally found his balance.

Looking to Naruto, then to Chakwas, Jenkins said one thing that brought a smile to both their faces. "That… was… AWESOME!" he said, throwing his hands up into the air at the end. He lost his footing and fell on his ass, quickly scurrying to his feet in an attempt to save face. Naruto chuckled, slapping a hand on his new friend's back as the doctor just shook her head at the men's antics, a small smile on her face.

/

With that over and done with, the blonde left his new friend in the capable hands of Doctor Chakwas. The woman had ordered him to stay in order for her to run a few more tests and top make sure he hadn't been injured too much. Naruto left, telling Jenkins that he would come and check up on him later. The man just flipped him the bird as he walked out the door.

Naruto chuckled, happy. Finally, he thought, he had found a good friend. Jenkins wasn't the type to just vanish, and he wasn't always overly sarcastic. Speaking of the latter, Naruto walked down the long hall to the cockpit, people typing on the monitors not even sparing him a glance as he went by. Before long, he was at his seat near the pilot.

"Hey Joker." The unshaven man looked up to the blonde.

"Oh, hey kid." The man went back to typing orders into the holographic orange screens, occasionally shifting through them. Naruto's eye had a minute twitch, almost unnoticeable unless you were looking right at him. The blonde typed a few things into his own screen as he spoke.

"What the hell? Why does everybody here keep calling me a kid? Shepard and Chakwas are the only ones who haven't so far." Naruto didn't think it important to let Joker know that he was one of the only four people he had talked to on the ship.

"Hmm, maybe it's because you're the youngest looking person of all the crew. I mean, what are you, 21?"

Naruto just twitched a bit more at that. "I'm 26, and if I wasn't a lieutenant, you probably would have said I was younger.

"Hehehe, well, I can't say that's totally untrue." Joker continued to chuckle as Naruto grumbled under his breath. He broke the blonde out of his thoughts. "Hey, by the way, did you see that Turian on board?"

"Turian? I thought that the crew was only made up of humans?" asked the blonde, confused.

"Oh, he's not part of the crew. He's a Spectre sent by the Turian military to oversee this mission."

"Well, that would make sense. This was a joint project between both of our militaries, after all."

Now it was Joker's turn to grumble. "Yeah, I know, but I just don't like the idea of someone looking over my shoulder all the time, telling me how to do my job, and I can't do shit about it. Worst off, he could take control of the ship from me any time he wants. I don't like it."

"Stop complaining. Joker." Both men jumped at the new voice. They turned to see none other than Commander Shepard standing behind them. "Stop focusing on the possibilities and keep your mind on the mission. Now, what's our ETA?"

"Commander! Uh, ETA is about ten minutes. Did you need anything else?" Shepard just nodded.

"Good. Naruto, suit up and meet me on the bottom level."

"Yes sir," he said with a nod. Suddenly, a voice came over the intercom. Naruto recognized Anderson's voice almost immediately.

"_Commander Shepard, can I see you in the comm. room for a moment?"_ the man pushed the comm. link in his ear as he spoke.

"I'll be right there." With that, the man was gone. When he thought it safe, Joker turned to Naruto before the blonde left.

"Man, is it just me, or does that guy just seem to disappear?" Naruto just shook his head.

/

Naruto stood in the armory near where he was to meet Shepard, making last minute adjustments to his pistol. He was surprised by the voice behind him. "Hey Naruto, you ready for this mission?"

The blonde looked up, a smile splitting his face. "Jenkins! The Doc say your fit for this mission?" he asked, noticing his friend's armor and assault rifle strapped to his back. The man just nodded, pounding his chest with a hand.

"Yep! Even you can't keep me down for long!" the two shared a laugh. The good times were cut short, however, as two other people made their presences known.

"It appears as if you two have met. That's good." Naruto turned to Shepard. However, what really caught his attention was the Turian next to him. He was black with white markings covering him. Shepard, noticing Naruto's interest in the Turian, introduced the alien. "This is Nihlus. He is a Spectre and will oversee the completion of this mission."

The Turian nodded before taking over. "Thank you Shepard. Now some developments have recently occurred on the colony of Eden Prime. It seems as if the whole place has just gone dark. We haven't received word for some time now. Our mission is to recover the Prothean beacon that the colony has uncovered. I'll be going on ahead to scout the area while you three follow behind and make your way towards me, searching for whatever caused this. Remember recovering that beacon is our top priority."

As if he didn't care if they had any questions, the bay doors behind the Turian opened and he jumped out, landing in a roll before continuing on. The doors remained open as the ship kept moving.

"Okay squad, you heard what he said. Now, let's do this mission as quickly as possible and find out what's going on." With nods from both of his men, the squad jumped from the bay doors and set foot on Eden Prime. Nothing could have ever prepared them for what would happen on that planet, nor would they be prepared for the consequences.

/

And there you have it. Yeah, this chapter's half-assed, yeah, I still haven't had any actual fighting, but I'm getting to that. It will happen next chapter for sure, seeing as there is really no way to get passed that.

Now, someone asked me if Naruto would poses average biotic abilities. The answer is yes, he will. Now keep in mind, he has superior natural strength, and I plan on giving him something else come Virmire. So wait until then. So, hopefully next update won't take as long, but no promises. Acolyte out.


	4. Loss and Gain

Hey there people, here's Acolyte with another installment of Natural Biotic. Hooray! In other good news, I found a fellow author that shares a few of the same ideas as me. Introducing my new beta reader for this story, give a whole hearty thank you to Archerdood. With his mighty prod of doom, I should get something of a regular schedule going here before I crush it utterly and completely when I start to focus on this. Hooray for destruction! That being said, let's get this train a' rolling.

/

Disclaimer: Despite me owning little in the way of… well, anything exceedingly valuable, really, Archerdood owns his prod of doom. Some guys get all the luck, eh?

/

Chapter 4: Loss and Gain

Otherwise Known As: A Chapter in which Something Actually Happens

Naruto landed in a crouching position. Above him, a powerful rumbling alerted the blonde of the Normandy's Departure. A familiar voice boomed over his comm-link as the ship left his field of vision.

"Alright people, listen up. The Normandy's returning to orbit. Contact us once you find the beacon."

"Roger that Anderson. Ground squad out." Naruto turned to see Shepard responding using the communicator in his helmet. The helmet was a bit intimidating, really, Naruto mused. Its armored plating covered Shepard's whole face, with the exception of a thin opaque yellow band across his eyes. It let him see out, but no one to see in. Naruto couldn't read his facial expressions, something that Naruto hated. After all, how was he to know if the man was going turn around and gun him down if he could not read the man's face? Sure, the man had seemed to be okay so far, but that didn't mean the blonde trusted him completely just yet.

Naruto turned his attention to Jenkins. The guy was far more open, even using one of the older helmets. The old model did not really do anything to hide his face, using a wide mask of reinforced glass to protect his face. It allowed people to see his entire face, with only a transparent blue visor coming down over his eyes. Also, while Shepard had an aura of precise, cutting seriousness surrounding him, Jenkins had an over-excited feeling around him. It was as though this was a game to the new recruit. _'A game that will get the guy killed, if he is not careful,' _Naruto thought. _'I'll have to help him fix that when we get back to the ship.'_

Naruto's inspection of his teammates was interrupted by Shepard. "Alright, men, listen up. We need to find Nihlus and locate the beacon. Let's move!" Both other men nodded and fell into step behind the commander. Naruto was to his left and Jenkins to his right. Naruto took this time to survey his surroundings while they moved.

The sky was a pale and slightly smoky yellow, shadowing the landscape a bit. The sun still poked through a few of the yellow clouds. Unlike the rest of the team, Naruto did not choose to wear a helmet, and, therefore, he had no visor to shield his eyes. The reason why was that the blonde didn't really see much point. The air was perfectly breathable and there were no signs of airborne toxins. Also, helmets tended to cut off ones peripheral, leading them to have a blind spot that enemies could take advantage of. He also generally did not like helmets. They cramped his style.

Shaking his head a bit, Naruto continued to look around. The landscape was uneven, with seemingly random hills and valleys showing up all over the immediate area. Rocks also constantly shot up from the ground, giving the impression of small cliff faces. The grass was short and spread apart, allowing him to see the rust-colored dirt under it quite often. It seemed the area had been warn ragged by walking.

The group continued down a small incline and into a mini bowl-shaped valley. The rock walls were at least fifteen feet above their heads and the only accessible path was to their left. Shepard, however, noticed something to their right, deeper into the valley. "The hell?" he asked, though didn't really do much more than that.

Naruto turned to where Shepard was looking. He had to admit, he had never seen anything like this before. The thing looked like a balloon, basically a bloated white blob floating several feet off the ground. It seemed completely symmetrical, and had no eyes, or, well, anything to get a grasp of its surroundings. It looked like a floating jellyfish, especially when he factored in its short tentacles. A large number of others where floating in the same area, though were a bit off to the side.

Though in reality the blonde lieutenant's observations lasted for less than a second, his response to his commander's question as said man quickly brought up his sniper rife and took out two of the things without needing to look down the scope, one bullet for each creature.

"It doesn't matter what they are, if it's not human or can't identify itself as a friendly, just shoot it. Now we have a mission we need to complete, so keep moving." The two quickly followed Shepard's advice. While they moved, Jenkins began to speak.

"You know, those things were harmless. I'm from here, I would know. You did not really need to shoot them..." He eventually stopped talking after a blank look from Naruto and what he thought was a glare from Shepard (he could not really tell with the helmet in the way).

The group continued on, not really encountering any more trouble. They did run across a group of four more of the balloons, but the team ignored them after Jenkins' urgings.

It wasn't too much longer before they came into a sharp intersection on their path. The rock walls continued to rise up over their heads and in the distance was what appeared to be a cliff. They could see it continuing on to the left, leaving only the path available to the right. Unfortunately, they couldn't see what might be waiting that way.

The only contact they had made so far were those balloon things, which the group had deemed harmless, but that didn't mean that there weren't other potentially hostile creatures. Shepard soon made a choice. "Jenkins, take point. Be careful."

"Right," Jenkins nodded while turning the corner, assault rifle in hand. There was a few seconds of silence as the man continued to survey the area. Finally, there was a response. "We're clear, Commander." The man nodded and soon followed him out, followed by Naruto.

Once they were all out of cover, however, Naruto's ears pricked up as he heard a low buzzing sound. "Wait, I think I hear something." Shepard just gave him a look (that the blond could still not see, damn helmet) before he whipped his head to the right.

"Get down!" he shouted as he tackled Naruto to the ground and took cover behind a small rock wall. The blonde was about to protest, before he saw Jenkins shouldering his rifle. Time seemed to slow as the next few moments burned themselves into Naruto's brain.

Jenkins tried to leap to his right, back behind some rocks. Naruto saw his finger twitch, as if about to fire, before the roaring of a gun going off caught up to him. It lasted about three seconds, but that was all it took.

The blonde watched as blue lights came from several different directions, the bullets being launched at high speed and with deadly accuracy. There was a flash around Jenkins before his body started jerking around wildly, his rifle hanging limply at his side, hand barely grasping it, blood exploding in a mist from his chest and back.

The roar stopped, and for what seemed like a long time Jenkins just stood, mouth open in a silent gasp of pain. Then, he started to waver, before falling back, rifle falling from his grip completely, kicking up some dust with its impact.

Naruto felt Shepard get off of him as the man peaked over their cover and quickly fired three shots and falling back down behind cover with a curse, his rifle overheated. "Shit!" Naruto heard the dull roar of fire again as chucks of rock bounced off their cover, firing where the commander was. Naruto was barley paying attention though, still staring at Jenkins' body. "Snap out of it, Uzumaki! The bastards are closing in on us!"

Naruto barley heard him, lost in thought he was. Why was this affecting him so much? He had seen death plenty of times before, on his own squad and from hostiles, so how was this different? _'Because he was the best fucking friend you've ever had, and those motherfuckers just killed him,' _he told himself. And it was true. He never really got along with anyone in his military career, but Jenkins was different. He was a rather lax and light-hearted guy who didn't think himself better than everyone. And now he was dead.

Naruto felt his blood begin to boil as his anger increased. He would make whoever did this pay! Popping up from cover, throwing caution to the wind, the blonde sent his hand forward, focusing on the floating white robots. Seeing that they were only drones made him even angrier. The bastards were nothing but mindless automatons!

He focused on a center one, a dark red energy soon becoming visible swirling around it, catching Shepard by surprise. Weren't a biotic's powers usually a dark purple or even blue? Naruto would have been surprised as well, if he was not too busy focusing on the drones. He had never seen a red biotic field before.

The power began to pulse, dragging in anything close; loose rocks, fallen branches, other enemies, everything in the area. They all crashed together, (ha, get it? Archerdood's idea.) forming a giant, sparking ball as the drones exploded. Using his control over the object, he launched it towards a small group that hadn't been caught in the gravitational field, destroying them in a burst of parts and electrical fire.

Naruto brought his gun into position, focusing on the lone drone that remained. He fired until his pistol had overheated and refused to shoot anymore, his bullets flying into the quickly dissipating gravity field, increasing their already impressive speed three fold, causing them to disappear in a flash of speed. They impacted the drone, shredding through its defenses, be it kinetic barriers or armor plating, like so much wet paper. The last of the drones fell to the ground.

Naruto's arm dropped as he remained standing, slightly panting. In less than five seconds, he had taken out eight drones single-handedly and nearly effortlessly. That didn't make the blonde haired man feel any better though. He slowly approached the body of his downed friend. Shepard was right behind him, a few questions on his mind. They could wait, though.

Naruto just stared down at the body of the corporal, not even acknowledging Shepard's presence as he peaked over the blonde's shoulder. In a deft movement, the commander move around him and crouched down to the body, bringing his omni-tool out to help him better inspect the downed man. With a growl he stood up.

"Damn. Bullets punched right through his kinetic barriers. He never stood a chance." The commander wearily shook his head from side to side. He had seen this too many times before to be considered healthy and wasn't as deeply affected by it as he should by. He had truthfully not known Jenkins very well, but he was still one of his men. So was Naruto, he thought, as he looked to see how the blonde was doing, leading him to his next comment. "He was a good man." With that, he placed what he thought was a comfortable hand on his lieutenant's shoulder.

"He deserves a proper burial." Naruto was quiet after that, leaving Shepard to put in his rebuttal.

"Yes, he does, but it can wait." The blonde fully turned to him now, listening closely. "We have a mission to accomplish. We all knew that there might be a threat as soon as we stopped receiving Intel from the colony; we just didn't know the scope of danger there actually was. Jenkins wouldn't want us to fail because of him."

There was a small, tense silence, before Naruto nodded, pulling his pistol into a ready position at his side as he walked forward. "I'm going to make those bastards pay, Shepard. Don't interfere when we run across more." Shepard just nodded. While Naruto's reaction wasn't exactly professional, he could understand that Jenkins had somehow become close to Naruto, and he was just forced to watch the man die right in front of him, unable to do anything. Yes, he could defiantly see where the blonde was coming from.

The two-man-group continued up the hill where their attackers came from, walking past the remains of Naruto's biotic display. Broken robots and pieces of shattered rocks littered the ground, and the blond just stomped on the shrapnel as he went, still angry at both the fact that there was still evidence of their existence and the fact that he had to leave his best friend behind. He swore he would make someone come back for the body.

It wasn't long before they reached the peak of the hill where there were more trees, reaching up at least fifty feet above their heads. They were about to continue on to their right, when Shepard noticed a white synthetic object near his feet. He let out a low whistle, catching Naruto's attention. "Nice shot. Looks like you hit it right in its central processor with all your shots." He indicated with his head down the object to give the blonde a better idea of what he was talking about.

Naruto spied the drone, letting a frown come to his face at how intact it was. However, his eyes lit up as an idea soon came to him. "Wait, let me see that." He wasted no time in crouching down and picking the drone up. It was lighter than the blonde expected, but that didn't stop the blonde from quickly finding the hatch that allowed him access to the innards of the drone.

Naruto quickly sifted through the, admittedly, sparse insides, before finding what he was looking for and quickly ripping it out. "What are you doing?" sparing a glance, Naruto saw Shepard standing behind him, still vigilant for enemies and a hint of impatience and annoyance in his voice. Naruto turned back to his work as he answered him.

"I'm rooting through this drones memory core to see who sent it and where they might be holed up. Maybe we can find out why they're here." With that, Naruto found the slot that would allow him to uplink the hardware with his own omni-tool. Within seconds, info started to pop up on his orange-glowing wrist.

Most of the data was junk files and spam, Naruto realized as he went through the files; it seemed that someone had prepared for this. But, something just wasn't adding up. Some of the information just didn't seem to belong, while other files just confused him. He knew that together (okay, two times might be too many, dood) they meant something, but he didn't know what.

Suddenly, his head started to hurt. In was just an annoying burn at first, but it soon felt like someone had set his head on fire. He grunted as he brought his hands up to grasp his throbbing head, trying to quell the pain in his futile attempt.

Shepard noticed this and was quickly by the blonde's side, grasping him by the shoulders. "Hey, Uzumaki, speak to me! What's wrong?" he was ignored, Naruto was too preoccupied with himself. He saw images flashing before his eyes, bits of data flashed on his omni-tool, all of it synching up, showing Naruto a similar pattern, before it suddenly stopped.

The pain was gone, and the blonde quickly jumped up, eyes wide as he looked at his commander. He breathed deeply, trying to find some fault in the information he saw. Looking to his omni-tool, he saw that it stopped flashing, all the information in front of his face, all drawing to the same conclusion that he already knew. It wasn't possible, yet, somehow, it was.

"Hey, Uzumaki, what is it? What happened?" Naruto looked up, only to shake his head in disbelief. Looking back at the memory core, her saw that it was fried; no hope in getting a second set of files to cross-reference. Finally, he spoke.

"I don't know how, but all this information suddenly makes sense; the junk files, everything." Naruto took a deep breath before dropping the bombshell. "All the information shows only one pattern that makes sense. This thing is a Geth."

There was silence as Shepard absorbed the information given to him before he answered in a speculative and concerned tone. "Geth haven't been seen outside the Vail for a long time you know. The implications of Geth showing up now, on a human colony with houses a beacon of Prothean technology… this could be bad. Though I'm curious as to how you suddenly know this, I believe it more imperative that we contact the others."

Naruto let out a small sigh of relief, glad that Shepard wasn't grilling him for details on how he knew what he did. Quite frankly, he didn't think he could explain it even if he wanted to. The blonde watched as his commander attempted to contact the Normandy.

"Normandy, this is the ground team on Eden Prime. We have some news for you." Shepard's response was met with static. He waited a few more seconds before trying again. "Repeat, this is the ground team on Eden Prime. SSV Normandy, do you copy? Joker, do you read me?" More static. Frustrated, Shepard switched his radio frequency in a last ditch effort to contact someone on the ship. "Captain Anderson, this is Commander Virgil Shepard. Please respond."

When only static greeted his ears Shepard growled in anger. This was just fucking perfect! They were down a man, they couldn't contact anyone, and they were on a planet with fucking Geth. The situation wasn't going well.

"Something's interfering with the radio. Looks like we're on our own, Uzumaki."

"Not necessarily. Quick, turn your radio to its original frequency." Shepard did so, and was surprised to hear a female voice on the other end.

"This is… -eif Ashl-… -iams. Und-… -eavy fire in… assis-… repeat… -eed of… -istance… -lease hurr-…" the transmission was cut off abruptly by static.

"Come on," Shepard said suddenly, heading forward, "That transmission couldn't have come from too far away given the radio interference. Maybe they can tell us a bit about what's going on here." Naruto quickly followed.

The two were met with little resistance, and the drones that did get in the way were either met by a bullet from Shepard's sniper rifle or a biotic attack courtesy of Naruto. It wasn't long until they came to a large open field.

There they saw it; a woman dodging bullets from no less than ten drones as she quickly dived for cover behind a small rock formation. She was dressed in white and pink form-fitting combat armor. The hail of bullets sailed right over her head while some chipped her cover, sending shrapnel every which way.

Waiting for a pause in fire, the woman quickly popped over her cover and fired a quick burst from her assault rifle, managing to take down one of the drones before being forced to duck down again. Seeing the woman's plight, Naruto decided to deal with them. This was also an opportunity to take out some more of his pent up anger.

"We need to hurry and help her."

"Agreed," Shepard said, nodding his head. "Go. I'll cover you." With that, the man crouched down in front of a pile of rocks in front of him and fired two concessive shots, managing to critically injure one of the still unaware drones.

Naruto wasted no time in firing his own weapon and sending a biotic attack, catching three of the drones in a field, now back to its regular color scheme for reasons Naruto neither knew nor cared about right now. The drones smashed into each other at high velocity, turning them into useless pieces of scrap.

This seemed to catch the other drones' attention, causing half of the remaining six to focus on him and the other half to continue to suppress the woman. Shepard's presence remained unknown, allowing him to pick off another of the drones harassing the woman.

The blonde was forced to duck behind his own natural cover as the bullets just barely passed by his head. He winced a bit as shrapnel came close to hitting him in the face a few times, almost making him regret not bringing a helmet, before he chanced a peek around the cover and fired, managing to disrupt the kinetic barrier of one of the drones.

However, they just kept advancing, and room was running out between him and them. It seemed as if they had finally wizened up to Shepard's game as two chased after him while one was doing a surprisingly good job at keeping the woman pinned. This wasn't good. They finally caught up to Naruto while he worried about the others, it seemed, as one appeared around the corner.

Not really thinking, Naruto threw a punch, focusing some biotic energy into his fist to give a bigger impact. He hit the drone and watched as its armor plating caved in and it was sent reeling in the air before it hit another rock and blew up. It appeared as if that was the one that had its barrier already brought down, so where was the other one?

His question was answered as he heard the sound of thrusters to his immediate right. Spinning around quickly Naruto found himself face to barrel of the enemy's gun. He was too far away to punch the thing and he doubted that he could get a shot off or dodge before the thing could at least injure him a good deal. As he heard the whirring of the barrel, however, something in Naruto's head just snapped.

Naruto's omni-tool quickly popped into existence and his eyes turned an inhuman orange, veins of red appearing in them. His omni-tool pulsed, and the drone shook in the air for a moment from an invisible wave of energy. Then, it just paused. The three remaining drones did as well, causing the other two people on the battlefield to stare at them curiously, then glance at the blonde.

As this happened, Naruto's eyes finally turned back to normal and his omni-tool dismissed itself. The blonde once again grasped his head in pain as he watched the drones turn and open fire on each other, shocking everyone present. When only one, damaged drone remained, it initiated its self-destruct sequence, leaving behind a small cloud of smoke and more shrapnel.

As the final bits of dust cleared, Shepard left his cover and began to approach the unmoving female. As he passed by his position, Naruto fell into step behind him, his head still hurting a bit. He was spared a quick glance, many questions running through the commander's head; questions that he realized could wait, he begrudgingly knew

.

The woman seemed to snap back into reality as the two men finally got to her. As she did a quick once over of them, she noticed Shepard's N-7 armor and quickly realized that this person was more experienced than her. As such, she performed a quick salute and introduced herself, "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, ready to assist in any way possible, Sir."

/

And that's a wrap, folks. Unfortunately, this chapter was originally gonna' be the whole Eden Prime experience. Of course, life then decided to fuck with me a bit, causing a blackout that made this chapter revert to its original save. I.e. the title. Then, I went five days with respiratory problems, nothing I couldn't handle, mind you, only to later find out that it was bronchitis. So I wasn't exactly in the mood to retype everything. Yeah. Either way, thanks to Archerdood again, and see you next time. This has been a chapter by your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth, totaling 4,107 words!


	5. Treachery

Fuck, this is out later than I hoped. I blame school. They shouldn't give me summer work just because they accepted me into an advanced class. And already all of my classes are loading me up with homework. And worst of all, these classes are so advanced I can no longer bullshit my way through most of them. Crap. Well, let's do this.

/

Disclaimer: As if I didn't have the resources to own anything as big as the franchises in this story, I no longer have the time, either. However, rest assured that you guys will be getting chapters for this story all throughout the month of September. Now let's just hope this doesn't kill me.

/

Chapter 5: Treachery

From his position behind the commander, Naruto saw the man apparently inspect Ashley, the girl still holding her salute. Of course, Naruto said apparently because he had no idea what Shepard was doing behind that helmet of his. Naruto swore, the first thing he was going to do when they got back to the Citadel was buy the commander one of those new helmets that allowed you to adjust the transparency of the faceplate.(1) Granted, Shepard would probably always keep it as opaque as possible, but it was worth a shot.

With that thought out of the way, Naruto took the time to inspect the gunnery chief himself. Naruto would admit, the girl had a nice body, her combat armor hugging close to her body and showing off her curves rather nicely. Bringing his gaze up further, he saw that Ashley had good-sized breasts, being careful to make it seem like he wasn't eying her and be accused of being a pervert. Fuck, that was probably why Shepard wore that helmet. In addition to being intimidating, he could also blatantly look at women without their knowledge. Maybe Naruto would get one of those new helmets for himself.

Naruto shook his head a bit; now wasn't the time for this. Going back to his observing, the blonde moved his eyes up to the girl's face. Her skin was nicely tanned and had a nice shape to it. Her eyes were a warm brown, despite her still serious state. It only proved that the woman was still empathetic to those around her, while still being a highly trained soldier. It was a good trait to have in their line of work, at least it was in Naruto's book.

Done with his observations, Naruto saw that Shepard was finished too as he finally spoke to the girl. "At ease, Williams." Ashley lowered her salute and relaxed her stance a bit, but Naruto could see her muscles were still tensed, just in case they were ambushed again by another group of drones. "I'm Commander Shepard, and this is Lieutenant Uzumaki. We are here looking for the Prothean relic that was uncovered recently. Do you know where it is?"

Both men saw as Ashley's eyes widened at the mention of their names. "Wait, Shepard? As in the same Shepard that slaughtered those Bartarians at the Battle of Torfan?" Shepard just gave a nod, apparently not caring that that was the event he was known most for. Ashley than turned her attention to Naruto. "And Uzumaki? As in Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Yes, you know of me?" the blonde was genuinely surprised. Sure he was special, but he hadn't really done anything remarkable in his career like the commander had.

"Of course," Ashley said, causing the blonde to raise an eyebrow, "the so-called 'Natural Biotic' is almost as famous as his new commander. The first human to be able to use biotics at your level is a great asset to the Human Alliances. I need to admit, though, I thought you would be older, at least twenty-five."

Naruto's raised eyebrow began twitching fiercely at that comment. "I'm twenty-six," he growled out. This was really getting old. Maybe he should grow a beard to make him look more mature?

Ashley blushed, embarrassed with herself. "Oh, sorry," was all she said, looking away. Her attention was called back to Shepard as he cleared his throat.

"Not that this isn't interesting and all, but I need you to focus, Williams. Where is the beacon?"

"It's over that way," said Ashley, pointing to the direction she had come from. "it's not that far, and you shouldn't encounter much resistance.

"Right, let's go, Uzumaki." Shepard indicated with his head to follow him. Naruto started to, but both men halted at Ashley's voice.

"Now wait," her voice had an indignant tone to it, "those drones killed my squad, and I'm not just going to let them get away with it. Let me come with you, sir. It was my mission to protect the beacon, after all. Let me make up for my failure."

Shepard seemed to think about it, intentionally moving his head as he looked her up and down. "From what I've seen, you know how to handle yourself in combat quite well. You want to come with us, fine, but don't let your guard down. I've already lost one soldier today, I'm not ready to lose another one."

And with that said, the new group of three set off.

/

"It's... gone," Ashley said, shocked. Shepard and Naruto were close behind her, looking at thee place were the beacon was _supposed_ to be. There was no doubt that this was the dig site, there was still a few remnants of machinery laying around and the brilliant white podium for said beacon was a dead give away.

"Geth must have taken it already. Shit." Shepard brought up his omni-tool, his squad-mates watching him as he went through data. "According to the map, there's a spaceport up ahead. That's our best bet as to where they took the beacon. Come on, we need to keep moving, Nihlus is probably waiting for us."

Naruto and Ashley began following their commander up the small incline, questions in the latter's mind. Shepard hadn't exactly gotten around to explaining everything to his newest soldier, and Naruto was still a bit peeved from the comment about his age and didn't really want to converse with Ashley much. The woman knew that she probably shouldn't be asking questions about these things, obviously being told everything the commander saw fit for her to know, and would have a better chance to ask than during a mission Shepard held in high priority and urgency. Therefore, it was quite as the group approached a section with a few office buildings for the science team in charge of the excavation. However, the three weren't really paying attention to that.

No, what caught the team's attention were the large metallic spikes rising out of the ground impaling several humanoid figures. "My god," Ashley said, shock written over her face, taken aback by the scene. The humans were a matte grey colour, blue veins visibly running all across their bodies, mouths agape, eyes hollow. It was a disturbing sight to see what had become of these five people.

"This must be the science team," Naruto thought aloud, just standing with the group, none of them really feeling like moving.

"Or what's left of them, at least. To think that the geth could do something like this." Shepard just shook his head side to side a bit and took a step forward to better examine the dead. However, he quickly stopped as a spike started to lower, followed soon after by the others. "Shit," he hissed, tensing and pointing his sniper rifle at the spikes, waiting for something else to happen.

That something was the humanoids rising to their feet, swaying a bit as they got their balance. One of them looked directly at Naruto, it's hollow eyes boring into the blonde. A strained and warped gasp came from its mouth, before it began rushing towards Naruto at surprising speeds.

Naruto reacted quickly and reached for his pistol. His gun wasn't even halfway up, the zombie no less than three meters from its original position, before, Shepard decided to pull the trigger on his gun, sending a bullet right into the creature's head, bits of gore flying with the bullet as the zombie dropped, motionless, as the rest trampled it into the ground, intent to kill the squad, their arms flailing wildly behind them.

By this time, Naruto had fully gotten his pistol out, sending five shots into the lead zombie, the creature crumpling from the impact of the rapid-fire shots. Shepard had also managed to down another zombie with two shots in the chest, at the cost of his sniper rifle overheating and causing the man to lose time switching guns.

Fortunately, Ashley was able to provide cover fire with her assault rife. Taking aim, she sent a couple bursts into one of the zombies legs. The creature fell forward, balance lost, and was unable to get back up. It settled for crawling forward, instincts driving it to kill, regardless of its own safety. The zombie no longer had a survival instinct, only a killer one.

Ashley ended that as well as she sent a few more bursts from her rifle into the zombie's head and torso, splattering its luminescent blue fluids on the ground. However, so focused she was on killing that particular zombie, she didn't notice the last one quickly approaching. When she did notice, she didn't let it bother her, she simply shouldered her weapon and pulled the trigger, a small frown on her face.

However, that frown turned into a look of shock and desperation as her rifle only fired a few bullets before overheating. Granted, most of them hit their target, but it wasn't quite enough to stop it. She quickly tossed her weapon to the side, not having time to holster it as she reached for her side arm. It was too late, though, as the creature was already upon her.

Naruto noticed this and quickly swung around, aiming his weapon and sending as many shots as he could into the zombie. The creature pitched forward at the sudden assault, but still managed to tackle Ashley, sending them both to the ground. With the zombie on top and Ashley too shocked from the impact, the creature raised its arm and prepared to start beating the woman. Angered, and not preparing to loose another teammate, even if it wasn't one he necessarily liked, Naruto shot his hand forward and called upon his biotic abilities.

To his shock, the glow that encompassed the zombie was once again red-orange, but that was inconsequential. Instead, the blonde focused his thoughts, wanting only to crush the zombie. He watched as the creature gave an agonizing wail as its chest was slowly crushed, its wail turning strained and horse before it ended completely. Satisfied, he flung the zombie a few feet into a nearby grouping of rocks.

With disaster averted, Naruto approached the downed woman who was getting to her feet, stopping along the way to pick up Ashley's discarded weapon. When he was close enough, he held the rifle out to her, which she gratefully accepted. "Thanks," was all she said as she looked down, embarrassed. This was the second time she was saved by the blonde, and she was supposed to be a highly trained soldier. It was unbecoming, damnit!

"Don't mention it." as this short exchange was going on, neither one noticed the movement near them. Meanwhile, Shepard was making sure all the creatures were dead. Satisfied, he continued onto the last one, only to have his eyes widen a margin before quickly narrowing. He brought up his pistol and fired a round, causing the other two to jump at the resounding bang, Naruto especially, seeing as the round impacted at his feet. "What the fuck man?"

Naruto turned to the commander, incensed at the bullet coming so close to him. Was the guy already trying to kill him on their first mission. The only response Naruto received was a slight incline of the head from Shepard, prompting the blonde to look at where the man shot. He was a bit shocked to see the last zombie he had thought he killed at his feet, reaching out to grab him, and new hole in its head.

"Next time make sure your enemy is dead, don't just assume. Now let's go check out this building, maybe we can find some information." with that, Shepard turned his back and headed to the prefab office. Naruto grumbled a bit, but nonetheless followed behind Ashley. Nobody had told him he would be fighting zombies on this mission. But, to be fair, no one told him much about this mission to begin with. The point is, his hatred of the geth had increased. How could they turn people into shells of their former selves like that. It was a fate worse than death, being left with only a need to kill, an unfeeling husk. In his head, Naruto swore that whoever had caused this would have their skull ripped out through their ass by him personally. Granted, if they had a skull, but the point was made. The motherfucker would suffer and die by his hand.

/

In Naruto's opinion, the trip to the office was a waste of time. They had found two of the surviving science team hole up inside, but hand gained no new information. And, of course, one of the guys had to be crazy, ranting and raving about all kinds of shit. His colleague had tried to inform the blonde and his squad that the man really was brilliant, he just hadn't had enough time for his pills yo kick in. so, for that fact, Naruto let the man go on while the woman tried to explain something.

That was, however, until the man had decided to go after him and start shaking him, yelling right in his face. Naruto wasn't a very patient person, on this mission had wore his patience even thinner than it already was. Therefore, I was only logical that the blonde deliver a left hook right into the man's face, sending him to the floor, possibly with a broken jaw, but it got the guy to shut up, didn't it?

What ensued was some screaming from the woman and a sideways glance from his commander, something the blonde guessed was Shepard's version of a half-heated glare. The squad left soon after that, and as soon as they got outside, Naruto expected to get an ass-chewing. He was surprised by Shepard's lack of concern, though. "Good job handling the situation, Uzumaki. Though, next time, let me hit the crazy guy. It is my job to protect my squad, after all." Naruto just watched the man's retreating back, unsure if he had heard correctly, however, he could see the confusion written on Ashley's face, too, so he just let it go. E wasn't in trouble, who was he to question a superior officer?

The group didn't get very far before a high-pitched beeping started to sound in Naruto's ear, signifying that communications were back up. Armed with this new information, Naruto saw fit to inform Shepard. "Commander, communications are back up, but probably only temporarily. What do you want to do?"

Shepard seemed to think for a moment before asking, "How far of a range do we have?"

"I don't know."

"Hm, I don't want to risk sending a message to the ship if it probably won't make it. Our best bet is to contact Nihlus and see what he's up to." with that, Shepard activated his communicator and tried to reach the turian.

/

Meanwhile, the turian SPECTRE was dodging behind boxes, ducking in cover, and sprinting from one barrier to the next, keeping his eyes open for hostiles, gun held out at the ready. Nihlus had yet to encounter anyone, friendly or otherwise, which only meant something was wrong. He had learned that in his training, that when something was this quiet, shit was about to hit the fan. His sense of foreboding was only increased by the fact that the beacon was missing and the fact that his radio was down.

Suddenly, his mandibles twitched, more on a regulated reflex than anything, allowing him to taste the air around him, to feel the heat of the atmosphere. That's when he felt it. Nihlus quickly spun around, pointing his pistol into the face of the person following him. His eyes opened wide in shock and his mandibles once again twitched at seeing who was behind him, prompting him to quickly lower his gun.

"Sarin! What are you doing here?" shock was evident in Nihlus' voice as he stared down his fellow turian SPECTRE. The grey-shelled newcomer responded quickly, using his lax and professional voice.

"Relax, Nihlus. The council thought that you could use some more help on this mission, so they sent me along as assistance."

"Well, at least it's nice to see a friendly face," said Nihlus, finally deciding to put his weapon away completely. "Don't get me wrong, that human team seems nice enough, and I have no doubt in my mind that they are skilled. One of them is being considered for SPECTRE status, you know."

"You don't say?" Nihlus failed to notice the narrowing of his friend's eyes and passed the flicking of his mandibles off as reflex, like a yawn.

"Yeah, but I haven't had any contact with them since I was dropped off. Then there's the fact that everything's so quiet. I mean, no resistance, no allies, nothing, even the beacons missing. I don't know, something just doesn't feel right." with that, Nihlus turned around to survey the area, making probably the worst mistake he would for the rest of his life. You couldn't blame him, though, he thought he was in the presence of a friend.

"Don't worry about it," said Sarin, pulling out his pistol, unseen to Nihlus, "this will all be over soon." as he said that, he pointed the gun to the base of his friend's skull. However, as he puled the trigger, Nihlus suddenly looked down, alerted as something on his omni-tool started to beep, saying he had a message.

The bullet ripped through his head, freezing a shocked and pain-filled look on his face. Sarin paid no mind to the sudden movement, seeing as his fellow turian pitched forward regardless, purple blood leaking around his motionless body. Satisfied, Sarin stepped around Nihlus, leaving him to die. The grey turian still had an assignment to finish, after all.

/

Shepard had just managed to patch the call through, allowing a small, unseen grin to come to his face as he waited for the turian to pick up. That grin quickly vanished, turning into a concerned scowl as a single, resounding gunshot came from over the crest of the hill, causing the lieutenant and gunnery sargent to twitch in shock. To make matters worse, the call went unanswered, causing Shepard to come to a conclusion that made his stomach drop. "Move it, that was probably Nihlus!" Shepard said, pushing past his soldiers and retaking his rifle in both hands.

The scarred man quickly made it to the top of the hill, Naruto and Ashley right by his sides. Using his sniper's scope attachment, the commander looked down at the development area, scanning the dock for anything out of order. His scowl only deepened at seeing nothing clearly or inherently wrong. No drones, no dead bodies, not even those spikes that indicated the presence of one of those 'husk' beings. It was just abandoned.

"We need to get down there." Shepard's voice was grave, sending a slight shiver down Naruto's spine. Throughout the whole mission, the blonde had never heard Shepard sound even slightly worried. The man must have been very on edge. Regardless, he followed his commander's descent down the hill into the dock.

The group didn't make it very far before haunting moans and low rumbling sounds pierced the air. The squad quickly moved behind some nearby cover. Naruto, being the farthest away at the time, had to dive for the barrier as bullets ripped through the air and pelted where he was milliseconds ago. Drawing his pistol, the blonde quickly peeked over his cover, gun pointed out, only to quickly unload five shots into the head of a husk trying to crawl over the barrier.

The husk fell backwards, giving Naruto a good view of what the team was up against. He quickly ducked back down as more bullets sailed over his head and impacted the concrete shield. "What are we up against?" asked Shepard, switching his rifle for his pistol. The space was too enclosed to use a sniper rifle.

"To put it simply, we're screwed. I'd say that there are at least ten more husks and six drones."

"Well then we'll just have to take them out before they take us out," said Ashley in all seriousness, popping up and firing a burst from her rifle, which was followed shortly by a small explosion and a higher pitched groan. "There, that's two of each down."

Naruto smirked. Despite himself, he was starting to like Ashley. Waiting for a pause in fire, the blonde went up and focused his biotic energy on one of the more well surrounded husks. A shimmering blue field surrounded it and dragged in anything close. Two other husks slammed into it as one of the drones came down. At the same time, a small fuel container came shooting towards the husks, impacting with the drone and causing a small explosions, igniting the three husks and a few more near them.

With a shit-eating grin in his face, Naruto turned to Ashley. "And there goes at least five more." Ashley just chuckled, seeing the game for what it was. Sure, the woman was competitive, but she was by no means a sore loser. Her smile soon vanished, however, as she noticed something behind the blondes shoulder.

"Look out!" the blonde quickly spun around, his eyes widening at what he saw. It was a drone, but this one was different. First off, it was bulkier, and painted a dark red. Another thing that was different about it became obvious once it fired. A rocket came barreling at the blonde, a smoke trail behind it.

_'SHIT!'_ the blonde thought in panic. Then, everything seemed to slow. Naruto's eyes turned orange again, the blue veins appearing in them. A pulse spread out threw the area, a pulse that Shepard felt mostly due to his close proximity to the blonde. Either way, it prompted the commander to pay more attention to everything, leading him to see some interference on his omni-tool, and data flowing at seemingly light speed on Naruto's, along with the blondes formerly blue eyes.

Regardless, the regular drones acted accordingly, shaking and sparking a bit before turning on their comrades. A drone close to Naruto flew into the rocket, saving him from the blast, before some more attacked the new rocket drone which tried to escape. It didn't.

All around, drones began firing on husks, then on each other, before all of them were destroyed. Suffice to say, the squad was in varying degrees of shock. "Wha-... what just happened?" asked Ashley. Sure, everyone had seen this before, but it was still strange. Shepard just kept his mouth shut, not wanting to complicate matters anymore before this mission was over.

Instead, the commander hoped over the barrier and trotted through the bodies, not really caring as the remains of husks and shrapnel were crushed under his boots. He rounded a corner before he stopped cold at what he saw in front of him. Quickly, he kneeled down and cast a glance over his shoulder, growling at the absence of his squad. "Get your asses over here, damnit!" he barked.

The other two quickly snapped back into reality and caused them to rush to where their commander was. Naruto came skidding around the corner and blanched at what he saw. His commander was over a familiar turian, doing basic diagnostic work with his omni-tool, seemingly oblivious to the bullet hole in Nihlus' head and the blood that was seeping onto his armor.

Suddenly, Naruto's radio crackled to life prompting him to inform Shepard. The man turned to him, seeming to stare him down for a few seconds, before reaching up and activating his comm device.

"_Shepard, about time you picked up. What's going on down there?"_ Anderson's voice came over the channel.

"It's not good sir. Everything's gone to shit. Jenkins is dead, we have a soldier from the squad protecting the beacon here with us, which is gone by the way, Nihlus was shot and is in need of immediate dental care." Now that shocked Naruto. Nihlus was alive?

"_Shep-... -at's goi-... -g on... own ther-...?" _Anderson came through garbled and staticy, indicating that they were losing the radio connection.

"Just send a fucking pick-up, damnit! There's no time to explain everything, but send someone to come get Nihlus! Shit!" with that, Shepard took his hand away from his radio, looking as mad as he could without a facial expression. Suddenly, movement came off to the right of the group, prompting the pissed commander to draw his pistol and point it in that general direction. "Whoever's there, come the fuck out with your hands above your head and I'll consider not blowing your fucking brains out."

Slowly, a human came out, arms raised high and looking scared for all the world. "H-hey, relax man."

"Who are you?" Shepard was clearly not in the mood for games.

"I work here. Please, don't kill me, I have a wife and kids waiting for me."

"First, tell me something. Why aren't you like everyone else?"

"It' s probably because I was asleep. I usually take my nap at this time. I saw everything though. I can help!"

"You mean to say you saw all of this happen and did nothing?" asked Shepard, almost incredulous.

"Hey man, what was I supposed to do? I'm just a dock worker!"

there was a moments pause, before Shepard slowly lowered his gun and regarded the man, back to his normal and cool self. "What happened here?"

/

The squad was now on a tram to the spaceport, having left the dockworker and Nihlus behind and stable. They had learned that apparently another turian had shot Nihlus. They had not been able to get all the details, so they left the slacker to be picked up with Nihlus, thinking maybe Anderson could get all the information they needed.

From there, the team got on the tram where they encountered some more geth. The difference was, these were the geth people were more familiar with, in that they were bipedal and had a sleek form to them. The team didn't have much trouble dispatching the enemies, but it was kind of annoying that they would hide behind cover and take potshots at the group.

So now the team was patiently waiting for the tram to take them to their destination. Suddenly, it began to slow, and the group caught site of the spaceport, also seeing all the geth there. There was probably two dozen of them, all of them working either carrying large bundles or kneeling down to adjust something. Curious, Shepard peeked through his sniper scope and promptly swore.

"Crap, they're planning to blow the spaceport. We need to stop them." needless to say, everyone agreed with the commander. Soon after that, one of the geth noticed the tram with them on it, and began to fire upon the squad. Everyone got down and found cover where they could.

The transportation soon came to a stop, the geth still firing upon them. Seeing as the shooting wasn't going to stop anytime soon, Naruto took his chances and fired a few shots and managed to get off a biotic blast. He quickly ducked back down as his shields were overloaded, not seeing how many geth he took out, but he did see some of them advancing towards the squads position.

Thinking quickly, Naruto erected a barrier at an open space. "Come on, follow me!" with that, the blonde ran across the gap and made it onto the platform before hiding behind a wall, the others following him, going to the opposite side. Suddenly, Naruto's barrier shattered.

One of the geth came through, only to get several bullets in the head courtesy on Naruto. After that, Ashley crouched down and peeked behind cover before firing her assault rifle, Shepard doing the same only standing above her, catching a synthetic in the chest and head.

Suddenly, Shepard turned to Naruto. "Uzumaki, take Ashley and go disarm those bombs! I'll cover you!" Naruto didn't need to be told twice. Both him and the commander leaned out to fire on the geth while Ashley ran out, taking care of the immediate threats, the blonde breaking from cover soon after and following behind her.

It wasn't long before they reached the first explosive. Naruto quickly got down and activated his omni-tool to help him defuse the bomb. Ashley stood in front of him, doing a good job of suppressing the geth. Shepard was doing his part, taking down the geth behind cover, to make it easier for he other two to advance.

It took less than ten seconds to diffuse the bomb. "Come on, we need to get moving! That bomb only had about a minute left on it!" Ashley only nodded. So the two fought through the geth forces and quickly disarmed, leaving only one plainly visible. However, Naruto panicked at seeing only thirty seconds left.

Throwing caution to the wing, Naruto rushed forward, not caring as three remaining geth fired upon him, letting his shield absorb the damage. He quickly raised his gun and fired it until it overheated at one, then sent a biotic blast at another, leaving only one. He just crashed into it, sending it off to the side where it smashed into a railing before going over.

The blonde did a baseball slide to the bomb and quickly deactivated it, sighing and relief before turning to Ashley and Shepard, who had just gotten there, flashing them a smile while they just shook their heads. That smile quickly vanished, though, when a light beeping sound remained prevalent.

Quickly surveying the area, Naruto noticed a bomb near where the group had started, its digital display flashing seven seconds left. "Shit!" Naruto ran towards the bomb as fast as he could, his legs burning in protest. He barrled down some stairs and almost took a header into a concrete barrier. He was still ten feet away when the bomb showed two seconds left. _'I'm not gonna' make it,' _he thought.

Suddenly, there was a bang. But it wasn't from the bomb. In fact, the bomb's display froze a one, it's main wire split, a dent in the bombs casing. Turning his head, Naruto saw Shepard shoulder his sniper rifle, its barrel smoking. Slowly, Naruto made his way back to the group.

"Good job people, now let's recover that beacon." with that, the squad made their way to a more open area, the beacon in plain few, green and glowing. Of course, the recovery wasn't going to be that easy. Just then, a bunch of husks came out and attacked the group, but were quickly dispatched. With that, Shepard made his way off to the side, his radio back up as he tried to contact Anderson. "Anderson, do you read me?"

"_Loud and clear, Shepard. We recovered Nihlus and the dockworker, now what the fuck is going on down there?"_ asked the captain.

"No time to explain. Look we have the beacon. Come pick us up and I'll explain everything then." as Shepard said that, he turned to look back at his squad, only to see Naruto start heading towards the beacon then look like he was being pulled in by it. "Shit!" he said before running towards the blonde.

As the commander was making his call, Naruto and Ashley were keeping guard for anything suspicious. Suddenly the back of the blonde's head began to itch, almost burn turned, only seeing the beacon. His eyes soon widened, hearing a voice in his head.

_**'Yes, more. Head towards the beacon, you know you want to. You need to.'**_ unconsciously, Naruto too a step towards the beacon as it began to hum. He could feel the power running in his veins. Suddenly, he blacked out, just as he started to be dragged in by the power. He didn't know Shepard tackled him, nor did he see the beacon glow brightly, levitating the commander in the air, blowing up soon afterward and sending Shepard flying a ways back.

Ashley just rushed over to him, dragging Naruto with her, hoping that whatever transport was coming would get their soon.

/

Hey guy. So, I bet some of you were confused by the disclaimer, eh? 'Month of September?' Yeah, that's when all of my updates for this story were supposed to come out. Let me explain. All through last month, I wrote chapters for this. However, something I did not foresee was the fact that Archerdood was buried in a pile of shit bigger than mine. So, he was busy digging himself out while being my beta. That's why this chapter is a month late.

You want to know something else? This is the original version. Yeah, I kept you all waiting for nothing. But, hear me out. Archerdood is still working with the last chapter and told me to just post this. I'll get the edited one out as soon as possible, and will try to get out all that I have in one week installments. Sorry you guys have to put up with me.

Now, let me answer some questions you may have. First off, Kyuubi is still inside of Naruto. That will be explained later. Implants actually won't work in Naruto. That will be explained later as well. Naruto will not be 'pussy whipped' as someone put in a review. And, finally, a topic a few of you have brought up.

Amnesia; this is neither to power Naruto down nor to rewrite his personality. There is a reason that he can't use his jutsu, which will be explained in the collector chapters. Secondly, Naruto has had nearly ten years to grow. That's a lot of time to change. I may revisit some of it. Also, I've decided to only visit a few side missions, not most of them like originally intended. That's about it.

1. An ODST helmet from Halo, for those of you who don't know.

So, yeah, sorry for the delay. Hopefully you all don't hate me too much. Now, there's a pole in my profile that I all want you to take a look at. Hopefully you still respect me enough to grant me that. This chapter has been brought to you by your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth, totaling 5,923 words.


	6. What's Wrong?

Hey folks. So, this chapter is just something I did over Labor Day weekend that's not getting out until now. Not really any action, just some dialogue. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. So, let's go.

/

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own shit dude. Who knows, there may be some O.C.s later on down the road, but that doesn't look likely at this point. So, until then, I own nothing... you know, except maybe the privilege of being the first to do this with Kyuubi. Haven;t read too many of these crossovers, mostly because there isn't any. Still, haven't seen this done before, so here's hoping I'm the first. You can probably infer what I'm getting at in the beginning of this chapter. Then again, maybe not. Oh, I'm rambling now, so let's just stop here, shall we?

/

Chapter 6: What's Wrong?

Slowly, surely, a familiar blonde began to open his eyes. Blue orbs pierced the darkness as Naruto moved to hold his head in pain. It felt like someone had used a doped-out singularity on his head in a munitions depot. In other words, his head fucking hurt.

Cautiously, Naruto sat up, a sense of vertigo overcoming him and sending his already abysmal eyesight swimming. The blonde groaned, just wishing for the pain to stop. "What the fuck happened? The last thing I remember was walking towards that damn beacon." suddenly, his blue eyes widened, a memory washing over him.

_It was like a spike rising up from the earth, but Naruto could tell it was not natural, despite the fact that it was covered in moss and vines. It reached up about fifteen feet, and it gave off a glowing green power. The blonde stood before it in awe. This was a power from out of this world. A deep voice broke him from his stupor._

The blonde wince, snapping back to reality. "Wha-... what was that? It looked like a beacon, but how? Where was that? Was... was that a memory?" Suddenly, a sound reached the blonde's ears, a low buzzing, mixed in with a rumbling. It was then that Naruto finally took stock of his surroundings.

He was in an open hallway, a low fog settling on the floor. Lights, low and dim, penetrated the darkness, retaining an ethereal look. The walls were a stone-washed grey, covered in exposed wires and data-streams that glowed in hues of red, blue, purple, and orange. Occasionally, sparks of electricity were visible, something Naruto likened to the the arching of synapses in the human body. It was all very strange.

Just then, the sound Naruto heard earlier seemed to increase, causing the blonde's pupils to dilate, his mouth to open slightly, as if in a trance. He slowly stood up, before he proceeded to begin a slow walk forward, not really knowing where he was going. At that moment, his mind was detached from his body, the latter acting on its own. What the blonde was experiencing was different from what was truly going on.

_Naruto approached even closer, and before he could fully comprehend what he was doing, he touched the beacon. And then, his world exploded into a green light and a burning pain, and then it all faded to black._

At that, Naruto's vision flashed, snapping him back to reality. His reality, anyway. What stood in front of him appeared to be a cage. Now, Naruto only thought it appeared to be a cage because the bars seemed to look more like giant teeth, almost like those spikes those husks were formed on. They stretched up so high Naruto couldn't see the top of them, but when they came back down Naruto saw the spikes pierce the floor. Finally, the bars were covered in veins the same colours as the data streams from earlier.

Suddenly, Naruto felt a bad feeling welling up in the pit of his stomach, almost like he was going to throw up, the pressure increasing up to an unbearable point. Suddenly, the blonde caught movement from behind the cage, and his eyes widened as a form came into view.

Naruto heard a voice then, a deep and familiar growl that sent an involuntary shiver down his spine. **"Now... is not the time. Leave me now, boy, and in time, all of your questions will be revealed, your past restored, and your future altered even further. But for now, awaken." **At that moment, the blonde saw a figure behind the cage smile, its teeth the same shape as the bars, a boney yet unnatural ivory in colour. Then, Naruto's world exploded in light and pain.

/

In the real world, the blonde shot up out of his medical cot, gasping for air with sweat pouring down his forehead. He raised a hand up to wipe some of the perspiration off of his face. As he did that he used his other hand to whip his covers off and swung his legs over the side of the cot. The images of what had just happened flooded his mind, so much so that he didn't notice the other person in the room, or even where he was.

He immediately swung around as he felt someone touch his shoulder, ready to attack. Naruto quickly calmed down once he saw the aged and shocked face of Doctor Chakwas. "Oh, doctor, sorry, I thought you were somebody else." It was then that the blonde noticed that he was back on the ship. He vaguely realized that he was stripped down to his fatigues and that the good doctor was trying to push him back into the cot.

"Perhaps you should lie down, Naruto. You've been through a lot. Do you remember what happened?" the blonde quickly realized that Chakwas was referring to Jenkins.

"Yeah, Jenkins, he's... dead, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is." the doctor noticed how tightly the blonde was gripping the sheets. Concern flashed across her face. "Naruto, please lie down. You should rest."

"No, I'm fine, really." Naruto didn't need rest, he just needed time to sort his thoughts. Walking around the ship would help. Suddenly, another figure entered the, admittedly, cramped room. None other than Shepard, dressed in his own fatigues, no helmet in sight.

"Doctor," he said, tuning to Chakwas, would you be so kind as to give me and Uzumaki a moment. We need to discuss a few things. Also, I think Nihlus might need your attention more than him right now."

"Of course, Shepard." with that, Chakwas left the room, seemingly ignoring the man's attitude which bordered on rudeness. Of course, the doctor knew that he was only trying to distance himself from everyone right now. From what she understood, Shepard did that whenever he lost a soldier after a mission. It was his way of coping. She also knew that despite his tone, he wouldn't be hard on Naruto, he just wanted to talk. That's why Chakwas agreed so easily, she knew that it was just Shepard's way.

With the doctor gone, Shepard locked eyes with Naruto, unnerving the blonde a bit. In his head, Naruto realized that, helmet or no helmet, when the commander stared at you, it really made no difference if you could see his eyes or not.

So now, here these two men were, staring each other down. Shepard seemingly reading Naruto's mind, while the blonde just let it happen, unnerved yet growing more annoyed by the second. Predictably, the blonde snapped first. "Do you need something, commander?"

The blonde noticed Shepard's upper lip momentarily quirk slightly, pleased with himself. It was at that moment that Naruto decided he preferred Shepard without his helmet, he could see his facial movements, making the man a bit easier to read. "I was wondering if you wanted to talk about what happened back on Eden Prime." The question itself was rather open, but Naruto could tell by the tone in his voice that Shepard was specifically asking him about how he did what he did.

Nonetheless, Naruto decided to play with the man a bit. "I'm not quite sure what you're getting at."

"Yes you do." Shepard didn't even miss a bit. At that point, the commander allowed his eyes to soften a bit, catching Naruto by surprise, not that he let it show. "First off, I want to know exactly how you controlled those drones. How you knew they were geth. I know that it has to do with your omni-tool."

Now, Naruto let his shock show. The commander knew that his omni-tool was involved? How? Not even he knew that! "Wait, my omni-tool is involved? How do you know that?"

"Simply? When you used that power for a second time, I saw interference on my own omni-tool, almost as if its power was being drained. I connected the dots and figured that it had to do with you own."

"I... see. Well, the best guess that I have is that maybe I crossed some wires when analyzing that initial drone, some data must have gotten into my omni-tool and downloaded a program or something that controlled that type of drone. That's why that rocket drone wasn't affected."

Shepard just nodded. The theory was feasible. The only reason that the man hadn't brought up the blondes eyes whenever he used the power was because he genuinely didn't seem to know. So, he let it go. "I'll buy that. Now, why did you go to the beacon?"

Now, the blonde began to sweat. He didn't want to tell his superior officer that he was hearing voices in his head. He was bound to be discharged and, with no further use to the army, he would be a human test subject. He wasn't about to let that happen. So, Naruto went with a less incriminating excuse that was still partially true.

"I... don't know. But... I think it has to do with my past." Shepard just arched an eye brow.

"I thought you didn't remember anything form your past."

"I don't, but it's just this feeling, you know?" before the commander could ask any more questions, the door once again opened, and in walked Captain Anderson. He gave the two a simple glance before turning and saying, "You two, in my office, follow me." seeing that they had no choice, Naruto and Shepard followed the man, though the brunette sent Naruto a look telling the blonde that this conversation would continue later on.

/

Naruto and Shepard entered the captain's office, only to find Ashley and the dockworker already there. Before anyone could ask Anderson what was going on, the man spoke. "Glad that you all could make it here. Now, I have some questions for you all. The council will no doubt be pissed that we failed to secure the beacon and that one of their SPECTRE agents was critically injured, so..." it was at that point that Naruto interrupted.

"Wait, what do you mean we failed to secure the beacon? What happened?"

Anderson fixed Shepard a look, though to his credit, the man didn't flinch. "You didn't tell him?"

"With all due respect, sir, you kind of interrupted our conversation earlier. I was going to tell him then."

"I see. Well, seeing as that is partially my fault, I'll tell him." Anderson now turned to Naruto, causing the blonde to straighten up as a sign of respect. "You see, Uzumaki, after Shepard tackled you out of the way, the beacon took him in instead, before promptly blowing up. We still don't know what that beacon did, but the point is, we don't have it any more. Now, back to the matter at hand," Anderson turned to the dockworker at this point. The man was still in his work clothes, hat and fingerless wool gloves included. He had straggly, dirty-blonde hair that reached his jaw-line, murky, grey-blue eyes and was unshaven, a thick beard and mustache on his face. Anderson cleared his throat and asked, "What is your name? I don't want to cal you dockworker in my report to the council.

The man looked a bit humbled, surprised that someone actually wanted to know anything about him, name included. Unprepared, the man rubbed the back of his head and stumbled over his next few words. "Oh, err, you may call me Colban Ryznov. My friends call me Cole." the man, Cole spoke with a heavy Russian accent, something nobody had noticed until now. Anderson just seemed to accept it.

"Right. Now, Cole, I understand that you witnessed what happened to Nihlus and that you saw another turian shoot him. Now, Nihlus was a highly trained SPECTRE appointed by the council to help carry out this mission. He shouldn't have let his guard down, end of story. Do you know why he would do such a thing?"

"Well, from what I am to understand, the two turians knew each other. From what they said, I can infer that this second turian was also a SPETRE who knew your Nihlus." now everyone was eying Cole, something that made the man very uncomfortable. He never liked being the center of attention, something that he unfortunately often was due to being at least a head taller than most people. At this point, Cole was very nervous.

"Mr. Ryznov, could you tell us anything else. There are many turians in the SPECTRE program, so we need a name or at the very least a description to bring this piece of shit to justice. It will be hard enough to convince the council that it was a fellow agent that did this, we need all the help we can get."

Colban just gulped slightly before speaking again. "From what I remember, the turian was maybe a light grey in colour, maybe a dull silver with pale blue eyes. I may have been mistaken, but I believe his face around his mandibles was scarred. He also had this fake smile plastered on his face throughout most of the confrontation." as Colban continued to talk, Anderson had a pit growing in his stomach. It was too early to jump to conclusions, but this turian was starting to resemble someone Anderson deeply wished to forget.

"Would you happen to have a name?" asked Anderson. In his head, the captain hoped against hope that Cole wouldn't say the name Anderson was thinking. He prayed that it would be some other turian. He knew that if Cole said _his_ name, the council would probably never believe them, not only because of the turian's good standing with them, but because of his past with him.

"Yes, actually. I distinctly recall your Nihlus calling the other turian by... Sarin, was it? Yes, that sounds right." Colban actually seemed a bit pleased with himself. He had gotten through this meeting and had given some useful information, hadn't he? Yes, he was a bit proud.

"I... see, thank you for all of you help, Mr. Ryznov. Do you think you could tell the council what you told us?"

"I... I suppose." Cole shifted on his feet. He didn't want to disappoint these people and did want to catch this Sarin guy for his crime, but as previously stated, got nervous being in the public eye. Recounting his tale in front of three of the most powerful individuals in Citadel space was a lot of pressure, even more knowing that if Sarin was convicted, his name would be known by many. In the end, he wouldn't let his petty fear of public appearances win, though. "Yes, I can definitely do it."

"Thank you, Mr. Ryznov. If you would like, you can go lie down in the infirmary now. Just go out side and it's directly to your left."

"Thank you, Mr. Anderson. And with that, Colban left the room, leaving behind the squad and Anderson.

"Now," began the captain, "Ms. Williams, I understand that you were part of the ground team charged with defending the beacon, and that the rest of your squad was killed by these drones similar to the ones that killed Corporal Jenkins. Am I right so far?"

"Yes, sir." Ashley responded as she was trained to.

"Do you know what these drones were?"

"Sir, from my understanding, they were geth."

Anderson nodded. "And how did this come to your attention?"

"I overheard Commander Shepard and Lieutenant Uzumaki identify them as such on multiple occasions."

"Right, now, can you recount your entire experience on Eden Prime to the council?"

"If that is what you want me to do, sir, I can do that."

"Thank you, Ms. Williams, you can leave now." Anderson turned to Shepard, waiting for the brunette woman to leave. He was surprised when she spoke up again, however.

"With all due respect, Captain Anderson, I consider Shepard and Uzumaki as my new superior squad-mates. I would like very much to stay for the remainder of the meeting." Anderson seemed to consider for a moment before seeming to agree.

"Very well, you have proven to be a great asset to this crew so far, Ms. Williams. I'm actually considering assigning you as Jenkins' replacement. You may stay. Now," Anderson looked back at Shepard, "Commander, exactly how did you come to know these drones were geth?"

"There were many clues, sir. Further on in the mission, we encountered bipedal synthetic enemies that resembled what I am to understand are original geth forms that the quarian people designed before they were forced to abandon their home planet. Lieutenant Uzumaki also stated early on, after Jenkins was shot and killed, that the drones who did it were geth. We were able to salvage one of the more intact drones and Uzumaki proceeded to hack into it, looking for data. It was after that when he stated we were dealing with geth."

"Okay, Lieutenant Uzumaki, please tell me how you knew these drones were geth."

Naruto began to mentally panic for a bit. He had been fearing this. So, now he had to make a believable excuse for how he knew he was fighting geth? He had a feeling that the captain wasn't about to believe that the information just popped into his head. But, maybe...

"Sir, as Commander Shepard previously stated, I had managed to hack into one of the drones, looking for information on the bastards who had killed Jenkins. I had successfully managed to download all available files, but noticed that most of them were junk files. It was soon after that the drone exploded in my hands, knocking me through a loop, and when I looked back to the data on my omni-tool, I noticed a peculiar pattern to it, one I had remembered seeing before. You see, I once read a book about ancient quarians when the geth still worked for them on a mission once. It said something about programing them with a specialized signature, setting them apart from regular synthetics of the time and ultimately leading the geth to develop sentience. The point is, the data-stream on my omni-tool matched that of what I read about. I just put two plus two together."

Anderson seemed to think for a moment, wondering if he was going to buy the blondes excuse. Eventually, the man seemed to yield and accepted Naruto's excuse. "I see, that will be all. Now from my understanding, there were also strange human-like creatures near where we picked you up. What do you know about them?"

Shepard took a step forward, speaking for his squad. "Sir, we do not know what they are, only that they were once human. When we first encountered them, they were impaled by strange mechanical spikes. When re-animated, they were more like mindless zombies than anything. For this reason, I have personally taken to calling them husks. Colban may be able to tell you more."

"Thank you Shepard. Now, we should be landing on the Citadel within the hour. Can I trust that you will all tell the council all they need to hear?" Anderson received a nod from each member of the squad. "Good, I will leave you all to your own devices, then. Now, when we land, I trust you will all escort Mr. Ryznov to our embassy offices. We will go before the council from there, understood?" Anderson once again received nods all around. "Good, then you are all dismissed." with that, the squad left, leaving Anderson to finish compiling his report for the council. He knew that they wouldn't be believed, but he needed to try. Saren wouldn't be getting away this time.

/

now I really didn't intend to place an O.C. In the story this early. It just sort of came to me. Now, I know that the real dockworker's name is Powell, and, ironically enough, I just found out Cole is the name of that guy in the small building right next to the spaceport. However, I didn't find this out until I named my guy Cole, so his names not changing. Now, I know things are going differently, but that's the point. I don't just want to rewrite the whole Mass effect story with Naruto in Kaiden's place, someone else can do that. I want to create a unique experience. That being said, Cole may or may not be killed in chapter 7 or 8. I kinda want to develop him a bit more, but I also need your opinions people. Either way, if he lives or dies, I got the story rather set, I just feel you guys should get a say in what you read.


	7. Explaining Their Situation

Yeah, here's the next chapter. Not much feedback on Cole's fate, so it comes down to the decision of the only guy who said anything about it. Here's your chapter.

/

Disclaimer: I own only copies of Mass Effect 1 and 2, and the first one doesn't even work anymore from over use. I do not own the franchise or any Naruto merchandise.

/

Chapter 7: Explaining Their Situation

The Normandy had finally managed to dock at the Citadel, and everyone going ashore was waiting by the airlock. Well, almost everybody. "Shepard, where is Colban? We need his testimony before we go in front of the council." Anderson was tense, which was understandable. He was about to attempt to bring down a rival he had never wanted to see again and, quite frankly, didn't see the outcome going in their favor.

"I would assume that he's changing into the clothes that you gave him." it's true, Anderson had provided Cole with some clothing in an attempt to make him look more... respectable. He was a dockworker, yes, but he could still look nice.

Anderson sent a glare at his second-in-command. He knew Shepard respected him, but now was not the time for jokes. "Well, you three wait for him and then escort him to our embassy. I'll go on ahead and have a quick talk with Udina." with that, Anderson turned and left through the air-lock, a frown on his face.

And so, Naruto, Shepard, and Ashley were left standing by the exit, looking like idiots. Soon, everyone began to relax. Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and began tapping his foot impatiently, Shepard just leaned against the wall, and Ashley started checking her weaponry, despite the fact that she wasn't exactly allowed to use it on the Citadel.

Eventually, Colban did appear, causing Naruto and Ashley to stop their impatient activities. Meanwhile, Shepard pushed himself off the wall and approached the man they were to escort. "So, what took you so long?" he asked idly.

Cole, now washed up and wearing a pair of military fatigues, looked down to his feet and rubbed the back of his head. "S-sorry," he started to stammer out, "I was just getting a little nervous."

"Hey, no need for that," said Shepard. Then, in a surprisingly comforting act, he approached Cole and put an arm around his shoulder in a friendly manner. Predictably, Cole tensed a bit, not expecting to be touched. "Come on, Anderson's pretty pissed at us already. Best not keep him waiting."

"R-right," Cole gave a quick nod in affirmation before following the commander out through the air-lock. Right behind them, Naruto sent Ashley a speculative look, only to receive a shrug before the two followed their charge outside.

The four were immediately saluted by the docking officer as they exited the ship. They paid him little notice as they walked past him towards the lift that would take them down to C-Sec Academy, though Naruto noticed Cole's hand twitched a bit as he walked past the man, almost as if he was ready to lash out at him with the slightest provocation. That wasn't normal, and it caused his eyes to narrow a bit.

As the crew got onto the lift, Naruto took a quick glance at the vast expanse of space behind them, the effect of such a sight slightly humbling the lieutenant. No matter how many times he saw it, there was just something about that vast emptiness that he could relate to; another entity that longed for something that it was not likely to attain.

His thoughts and view were cut off simultaneously as the mechanical doors closed, leaving the four in an awkward atmosphere filled only by the sound of a slow, robotic jazz, prolonged by how slow the lift was actually moving. Looking around at the others, Naruto could tell he wasn't the only one annoyed by the fact that, no matter how sophisticated and advanced technology had become, elevators seemed to take up a quarter of a person's life.

Shepard, for the most part, seemed impassive about the whole experience, his face a cool, rugged granite, though his eyes showed a deep loathing as vast as the galaxy. Ashley, meanwhile, was visibly scowling, her hand steadily moving closer and closer towards her sidearm before she seemed to restrain herself. Even Cole, despite his nervous self, seemed pissed by the whole experience. Naruto heard and unmistakable growl emit itself from the man's throat, though he looked away meekly as the other occupants in the lift turned their gazes to him.

Just as Naruto began to wonder who would crack first, the music stopped as an announcement began, prompting everyone in the lift to look up at the intercom all at once. _"Breaking news: the Human Systems Alliance crew responsible for the incident on Eden Prime is set to see the Council later today. It has been rumored that a survivor is set to testify against a SPECTRE agent the Alliance claims is responsible for the whole incident. As a few of you no doubt know, this is not the first time something like this has happened, which begs the question: are humans really ready for more responsibilities despite their relative newness in joining our galactic system? It all comes down to the ruling of the Council and the testimony of the survivor."_

as the newscast ended, three things happened. One was the elevator finally reached its destination. Cole turned pale and began to breath heavily, looking around in a paranoid manner. Finally, Shepard's comm began to go off. Reaching up, the commander activated the device. "Shepard here."

"_Shepard!" _the voice rang out clearly for all to hear, despite the call being on Shepard's private line. The man winced at Anderson's loud voice. _"Where the hell are you?"_

"We just reached C-Sec, Sir. We'll be at the embassy shortly." At that point, Shepard was cut off.

"_Forget the embassy! Shepard, get Cole up to the Presidium this instant! There's been an information leak and people are already lining up to watch the show!"_

"Yes, we heard."

Unfortunately, Cole also heard what Anderson had said about a crowd lining up to watch his testimony. As if it wasn't bad enough before, now hundreds of people would be watching him. His breath hitched in his throat and he lost his balance. Naruto caught the man and leaned him up against the wall outside of the lift.

Shepard saw this and swore. "Shit. Anderson, I don't think Cole is in any condition to talk in front of all those people. I have a feeling that he has a nervous disorder and is currently having a panic attack." it was true. Luckily, a crowd had yet to form around the group and nobody paid any attention to them.

"_Well that's too damn bad! Udina's here breathing down my neck and we're staling for time as it is!" _ At this point, Anderson's voice seemed to soften. _"Look, I'm sorry about all this, but we don't have much of a choice. You need to get Cole down here to testify or we're doomed."_ With that, Anderson cut off communications.

"Shit," said Shepard as he punched the wall nearest him. With that out of the way, he turned to Cole, who was being propped up by the combined efforts of Ashley, Naruto, and the wall. He pushed his two squad mates to the side gently and held up Cole by his shoulders. The commander noticed that he was shivering right away and was acting feverish. "Cole. Hey, Cole." the man didn't seem to be listening to him or even paying attention to the outside world. His eyes were darting every which way, looking at shadowed corners, overhangs, people who would walk by and look at him. Eventually Shepard grabbed him by the jaw and made him look into his eyes. "Cole, look at me. It's Shepard."

"Sh-shepard," Cole managed to stutter out. He finally seemed to come out of his trance and pushed himself off the wall and made Shepard back up a little. He was still looking sick and was starting to sweat now as he reached up to wipe his forehead. "I-I'm sorry. I don't think I can do this. I mean, t-there's all those people, and there will probably be a camera or two, and-and I just can't deal with that, y'know?" Cole's speech began to grow more rapid and frantic as he started to pace about, claiming that he couldn't do this.

"Cole, listen to me." Shepard grabbed the man's shoulder and turned Cole to face him. "Listen, those other people there, they don't matter. Hell, we don't even know if there will be that many." right away, everyone knew that was a lie, but that didn't stop Shepard. His voice just seemed to increase in intensity yet remained that encouraging touch. "This isn't about them, it isn't about you. It's about justice. You know that bastard crossed the line, and your the only one that can convince the Council. Up there, it's just you and them, with us backing you up. Up there, we outnumber them two-to-one. You know we can get win. What do you say? Can you defend humanity's virtue?"

There was silence for a moment, before Cole looked straight into Shepard's eyes. "I can do it," he spoke out clearly as he stood fully and proudly. Shepard flashed a smile.

"That's the spirit." Just behind them, Naruto watched, impressed. He couldn't speak for Ashley, but he was astounded that his commander had managed to preform a complete one-eighty in Cole's personality.

The quartet continued on through the Citadel, ignoring the occasional glances they received from passerby. Through the whole journey, Cole had yet to act paranoid again, his xenophobic self apparently locked away by Shepard's pep-talk. It wasn't long before they turned down a small, obscure hallway and boarded a lift that would take them directly to where they wanted to go.

Again, the group waited in the elevator for a while, though this time, Naruto kept casting glances at Cole. He didn't know why,but he felt that there was something... off about the man. Not off as in crazy, but off as in the way he carried himself. After Shepard's talk, Colban's stance had changed. Even before that, the blonde had noticed something peculiar in his mannerisms. Naruto suspected Shepard thought the same, as he saw his commander shoot covert glances at the man.

Before Naruto could place his finger on it, the lift stopped at their destination. The doors opened, and as the group came out, they were faced with the sight of two turians, arguing. One, dressed in blue armor and wit blue markings on his face, was speaking heatedly with another dressed in red clothes and white marking on his face.

"Sarin's hiding something, and you know it! Give me more time; stall the council!" he spoke, obviously not pleased by what had been previously said. The group, of course, all perked up at hearing the name Sarin.

"Stall the council?" asked the other, his voice much deeper. Unable to restrain himself, he shook his head slightly from amusement at the absurdity of it all. "Don't be ridiculous. Your investigation is over, Garrus." and with that said, he walked away, leaving the newly named Garrus to growl slightly, his mandibles clicking in aggravation.

He then turned, as if noticing them for the first time, allowing the group to see he also had a digital scope covering is left eye. He then approached them, Shepard in particular. "Commander Shepard," he said, surprising the group that the turian knew his name. They didn't show it though as the turian proceeded to introduce himself. "Garrus Vakarian. I was the C-Sec officer in charge of the investigation into Sarin."

Shepard nodded and grasped Garrus' taloned hand. "Nice to meet you. Is there anything you think we should know before we face the council?"

"Unfortunately, no." You could tell that Garrus was obviously displeased by this fact. "Sarin's a SPECTRE, which means anything he touches is almost inherently classified. No doubt anything solid was just beyond my grasp. But I know he's up to something. My mandibles itch whenever he's around. It's like you human's gut instinct." At this point, Garrus noticed Cole. "I presume this is the witness I was told about?"

Cole nodded and stepped forward. "Colban Ryznov. It's a pleasure," he said before shaking the turian's hand like Shepard had.

"No offense, but I wish I could have questioned you to get some information. But I think the council is ready to see you now. Good luck, and I hope you bring Sarin down." with that, Garrus began to walk away.

Just as he was about to get on the lift, Shepard turned to him. "Hey, Garrus?" the turian turned around, confused. "Why don't you come with us. You know, be there when we take the bastard down."

Garrus seemed to think about the offer. "Well, I do have other cases to work on, but I could probably spare a few minutes. Sure, why not?" Shepard grinned a bit as Garrus joined the group before they continued on to the council.

As they got closer, though, sounds increased, and soon it was apparent that a large crowd had formed, waiting to watch the proceedings. Cole, seeing the size of the crowd, began to get nervous again. He had braced himself, but nothing could prepare him for this. Every available inch was used to pack people in. there was no doubt that there was at least one-thousand people in the crowd. Everyone was caught off guard.

Naruto saw Cole was nervous, and decided to be the one to calm the man for once. "Hey, Cole," he placed a hand on the man's shoulder, causing him to jump. "You think you can do this?"

"I-I'm not sure. I didn't expect so many people."

"Hey, it's fine. Remember what Shepard said, it's just us and the council."

"R-right," he stuttered. Deep down, Naruto knew this wouldn't work, but he needed to try. So, he followed right behind Cole, who was behind Shepard. The whole group was lead by Garrus, who was using his position as C-Sec officer to get people to create a wide berth for the group to travel through.

As they went, Naruto couldn't help but notice that Cole was relapsing into his paranoid state, looking every which way, watching the skyline every now and then. Suddenly, he seemed to freeze up, looking up on top of one of the buildings. Naruto looked up, and saw a glint on top of one of the buildings. His eyes widened, knowing exactly what was going on.

All at once, Naruto yelled, "Sniper!" just as the rifle went off and he grabbed Cole, assuming him to be the intended target. He was right, as the bulled grazed the man's temple and impacted the ground. Screams erupted and the crowd dispersed in a panic, despite no follow up shots as law enforcement surrounded the area.

Meanwhile, Naruto held Cole, the man squirming all the while. He eventually managed to turn around and face him eye-to-eye. Naruto had to stifle a gasp at what he saw. The man's eyes were dilated, frantic, though behind that, they were the eyes of a professional who knew what he was doing.

Naruto's grasp slipped just a bit, and that was all Cole needed. The taller man ducked down, breaking the hold completely. He then stood back up quickly, sending an elbow into Naruto's jaw, stunning him enough for Cole to slip into the fleeing crowd.

"Shit!" he yelled, scanning the area, looking for Cole. He didn't find him. Soon enough, the squad and Garrus was regrouped. "The area's clear. All we found was an abandoned rifle on top of the building the shot came from," the turian said, disappointed.

"Uzumaki, where's Cole?" asked Shepard. Garrus perked up at this, his mandibles flicking in recognition as he eyed Naruto. The blonde, meanwhile, looked down, ashamed.

"He got away, Sir. But listen, I don't think Cole is just a dockworker. When I looked into his eyes after the shot, they weren't the eyes of a paranoid and traumatized dockworker. For a moment, he was a trained and highly skilled military professional. He knew exactly how to break out of my hold and slip into the crowd.

"Shit, and we don't have time to track him down." Garrus looked at the group, before finally he spoke.

"Hey, I need to get back to my cases, but I'll keep an eye out for Mr. Ryznov. I'm sure the council will grant you another trial, and he may be ready by then. I'll contact you if I find him."

"Thanks Garrus," Shepard nodded as he watched the turian walk off before turning back to his group. "We might as well get to Anderson now. No doubt he's pissed."

Anderson was pissed, and loosing his composure, looking at that turian's smirking face. When the gunshot was heard, the trial was momentarily halted. Udina, a dark skinned man with receding grey hair, was trying to clam him. The two might not always see eye-to-eye, but they were on the same side. When Shepard and the squad came up without Cole, though, he almost exploded.

"Shepard, where's the witness?"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but after the shot fired, Cole managed to escape into the crowd."

"Damnit!" the group's conversation was was cut off as the asari council member spoke.

"As tragic as the geth incident on Eden Prime was, we don't have enough evidence to convict Sarin of anything at this time, especially without your witness' testimony."

"Not that the words of a traumatized dockworker would be worth much," said the turian. Naruto slightly growled at that, despite using the same words to describe Cole. He didn't like this turian. "Besides," he continued, "like Nihlus, Sarin is a SPECTRE. Why would he have any reason to try and kill him?"

"That's exactly the point!" Anderson called out. "Sarin used his relationship with Nihlus to get him to let his guard down! Why can't you see that?"

"Anderson!" shouted Udina. He may agree with what was being said, but the man was just ruining human relations now, the case already lost.

"Why is it that whenever humanity accuses me of something, you seem to be at the center of it?" for the first time, Naruto noticed a hologram of a turian, presumably Sarin. The blonde had to admit, Cole's description was spot on. The turian's eyes then turned to Shepard. "And this must be your protege, the one who destroyed the beacon. I must say, I'm not impressed. Of course, he is only human. What do you expect?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed at that. It sounded like this guy just didn't like humans. Shepard, though, was unfazed. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you know about the nature of our mission. From what I understand, it was classified to anyone not on it. How would you know unless you were there?" that was true, Naruto remembered. He didn't learn until right before he was dropped off.

Sarin just let out a dry chuckle. "How naive. With Nihlus incapacitated, his files were passed onto me until a time when he is able to preform. As of now he is cast out of the SPECTRE program. I read the report on Eden Prime."

"You lying sack of shit!" everyone was shocked by Naruto's outburst. The blonde was shaking with barley restrained fury, his fist shaking and his jaw clenched. "I don't know what your deal is, but you obviously despise humanity! That's why you sabotaged the mission! Hell, you probably even sent someone to kill Cole, or at least scare him off!"

Truthfully, most of this anger stemmed from him not being able to keep Cole with them. But hearing this guy tell these lies did a pretty good job of pissing him off too.

"Uzumaki!" Anderson yelled, ignoring the fact that he had a similar outburst.

"Uzumaki, eh?" asked Sarin. "So you're the 'Natural Biotic', are you? I expected... more. Why the humans don't just use you for experimentation is beyond me. Regardless, your species needs to learn its place among us. Your not ready to join the council. Not even Shepard here is ready for the SPECTRE program."

"That's not your decision to make, Sarin!" it seemed indignity was spreading as now Udina was yelling at the turian. The asari council member tried to bring order back into the trial. "Shepard's admission into the SPECTRE program is not the purpose of this trial."

"Hah, this trial has no purpose. The humans are attempting to carry out a petty grudge and are wasting your time. Mine as well, for that matter. I shouldn't have to defend my innocence against this kind of testimony."

"I must agree," said the salairan council member. "The humans have yet to give up a single shred of concrete evidence. Unless you have anything more to add, your motion to disbar Sarin from the SPECTRE program is denied."

"I'm glad to see justice served," said Sarin, just as his hologram vanished.

"This trial is adjourned," spoke the asari council member. With that, they left, leaving only the humans. Angry with the turnout, Naruto glanced over to his side to his commander, only to see a scowl on his face.

/

and there you are. I must say, the weather has been absolute shit for the past week. Actually, the weather has been absolute shit since mid-September, and it's been raining almost every day since then. Hard, too. But, this being Vermont, that's not enough. No, it had to fucking snow here. Don't get me wrong, I like snow, but it's only fucking October. It's not even the twentieth! I lost power! A tree was knocked down by the wind and almost hit the house! A big one! But, I guess that's enough bitching. Also, I don't know if a chapter will come out ext week or not. Shit's happening and I don't think I'll have time to get on the computer at all until maybe after Halloween. Either way, stay tuned. This has been a chapter by your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth, totaling 3,812 words!


	8. Splitting Up

Hey guys. Sorry about the delay and thanks for being patient. A few issues arose that I shouldn't get into that caused me to need to not update this as per usual. That being said, I had intended for this to come out back in November. Suffice to say, I'm currently pissed, and will probably remain so for a while. Also, for the last time, Naruto's lack of powers do not have to do with his amnesia. I repeat, the amnesia has _nothing_ to do with taking his powers away. I have a different reason for that. The amnesia is mostly to keep Naruto as far away from home for as long as possible. It will be explained later but for now, just drop it. As for Naruto being a "Naruto-bob", as a reviewer put it, maybe he is. Then again, going through nearly ten years in a new environment without knowing who you are or where your from and being pretty much forced into the military, unable to look for any answers whatsoever, will do that to a guy. Hope that satisfies you. Also, there is a public service announcement at the end of this that I would like you to take a look at. Now enjoy.

/

Disclaimer: Do I wish I owned BioWear? What about Shounen Jump? Yes and yes. Do I in actuality? No. Has this proven anything? No. Was this a complete waste of time? Yes.

/

Chapter 8: Splitting Up.

Naruto, Shepard, and Ashley stood in front of Udina and Anderson, both of the senior men clearly displeased. Despite this fact, the three younger soldiers didn't back down, instead opting to stare head on at their captain and ambassador. The group was still in the Presidium, the crowd long gone along with the councilors. Everyone else ignored them, leaving them to their privacy.

After an intense stare-down, Anderson finally made his voice heard, disdain fueled by aggravation clearly evident. "Just what was that back there? Were you intentionally trying to jeopardize our case? Just what kind of bullshit was that? Especially you, Uzumaki, first you let the witness get away, then you all but insult the defendant right in front of the council. I'm beginning to regret taking you on."

Now, Naruto didn't really like it when his superior officers were all high and mighty, thinking that it was some great sacrilege just because one of their soldiers blinked when they were talking. Unfortunately, that was most of the army. But this, this was something he wasn't going to stand for, especially since it wasn't his fault.

"Now wait just one goddamn minute!" the blonde began, catching everyone's attention. It was obvious that he was enraged. "Don't you dare try to blame the whole incident with Colban on me. Where the fuck were you when we were bringing him here in the first place?" Naruto gave a few seconds for Anderson to respond, but the man was too surprised to do anything. "That's right, you left because you couldn't stand to wait with us! Besides, you didn't exactly help with the case either!"

At that point, Anderson seemed to find his voice again as his eyes narrowed. "I would suggest you watch yourself, _Lieutenant_. You're walking a very thin line from which your bound to fall."

The blonde was about to retort, fed up with the army, consequences be damned. He wasn't going to be treated like this and just let it slide. However, Shepard quickly placed an arm in front of his second-in-command, keeping him from throwing his life away. He then turned to Anderson.

"Captain, forgive me if I seem out of line, but everything Naruto has said is true. I may not know what you have experienced with Saren in the past, and I know that that's the reason behind all of this, but that doesn't matter now. We need to find evidence to convict Saren for another trial." With that, Shepard began to take his leave, his squad behind him.

"Damnit, Shepard, it wasn't about the trial!" called Anderson, causing the group to stop momentarily. "That whole mission was a test assigned by the council! They wanted to see if you could become the first human SPECTRE!"

Shepard remained still for a few seconds before glancing over his shoulder at Anderson. "It matters not," he said in a cold voice. "What matters is bringing that bastard to justice." With that, he left. Both Ashley and Naruto remained behind for a moment before they followed him.

/

"So, what's the plan?" asked Naruto idly as the trio waited patiently in the elevator. It seemed as if the only things the devices were good for (besides being the bane of existence to punctual people), were awkward silences and decision making. The question was obviously directed at Shepard, who had his arms crossed over his chest and his head down in a contemplative pose. Ashley and Naruto regarded him patiently, waiting for him to speak.

Finally, the commander looked up, his sharp brown eyes showing resignation. "As of now we have two goals. Our primary objective is to find evidence to prove Saren's guilt. The lesser goal is to apprehend Colban and get him into the hands of a medical professional. Garrus said he would help us with the latter, but he is still only one person. Just like we are one unit moving together. The fact of the matter is, we need as many leads in both situations as possible." The man took a break to let all of the information sink in, and the other individuals knew what he was getting at. "As much as I hate it, we need to split up."

"You seem a bit apprehensive about that, Sir. Any reason for that?" asked Ashley. Shepard turned to her briefly, a slight smirk coming to his face before vanishing.

"Let's face it, we all know Saren orchestrated that attack inside the Presidium. It's probably one of the most heavily guarded places on the Citadel. He has balls to do that, so what's stopping him from attacking us elsewhere? I have a bad feeling, to be honest."

Naruto listened to the whole explanation, and easily found himself agreeing with the man's logic. Of course, he was still slightly indignant. He was about to speak up, but Ashley beat him to the punch. "With all due respect, Shepard, I think we can all take care of ourselves."

"So, who's going where?" asked Naruto, wanting to get to the point. Shepard grinned at the bluntness.

"When this elevator finally stops, I want Ashley to search the topside marketplace. I'll take the high traffic areas near C-Sec. Naruto, I want you to search the bars and clubs. Does everyone understand their assignments?" Shepard received a round of nods as the elevator stopped. "Good, then let's get moving."

/

As Ashley walked through the upper levels of the Citadel, she had one thought on her mind. That thought was how much she hated this. She knew she should have been focusing on the mission, but she was a soldier, damnit! She wasn't accustomed to recon and information gathering. That didn't mean she always had to be in battle, but she felt more comfortable their, ironically. In battle, if you made a mistake, death was most likely to be only you or most of your squad. If you made a mistake with information, you could end the lives of multiple platoons. Ashley didn't like that responsibility.

Nonetheless, she would do her job. The only question was how? She couldn't just go up to random people and ask if they knew anything about a possible deranged man on the loose or something related to a SPECTRE. It would be illogical and might cause a panic.

So, what to do? With nothing better to do, the woman looked around, hoping to get an idea. She saw many people walking around, both human and alien, none looking particularly shady. The same could be said for the folks in the small market place to her right. However, she did see something that piqued her interest. That something just happened to be pink.

It was a hanhar, and, while their species were all similar and unassuming, Ashley knew that that led to them knowing more that normal people. So, figuring that that was her best lead for now, Gunnery Sargent Williams made her way to the floating pink blob.

As she got closer, the creature turned it's anterior end towards her and seemed to sense she was coming towards it specifically. The hanhar waited a few more seconds before it spoke to Ashley in it's monotonous voice, its body glowing slightly with each word. "Greetings, human. How may this humble creature be of assistance to you?"

Ashley paused for a momentarily, caught off guard by the hanhar. She couldn't tell what gender it was, though she doubted she ever would know the difference. Ignoring her previous surprise, she decided to get this over with quickly. "Sorry to bother you, but I was hoping you could help. You see, I'm looking for something..."

it was at that point that the hanhar cut her off. "So it is information you seek?"  The alien took Ashley's silence as a yes. "I regret to inform you that this humble creature can be of no use to you. However, it is common knowledge that the vendor in that shop specializes in what you seek." with that, the hanhar pointed a tentacle at the aforementioned shop.

It looked plain enough, but Ashley noticed that it had much less access to it and was more enclosed that the other shops. It almost seemed to be covered in shadows. Keeping this in mind, Ashley bid the hanhar a quick thanks before heading off in that direction.

It didn't take too long before Ashley found herself inside the small office, which was strangely empty sans her, a small desk, and a volus seated behind that desk. The creature looked up at her from behind its suit, a device all volus wore to protect them from the pressure of other planets. "Oh, please, come in," the volus said quickly, gesturing for Ashley to come in closer. His voice was nasally and slightly hissing from the respirator in his suit. "I take it that you are in need of my... services."

"Well, that depends," retorted the woman, a little cautious. She wasn't used to this, and had never trusted the volus species. She just got a bad vibe from them. "How talented are you in the field of information."

at that, there was almost a strangled laugh from the stout creature behind the desk. "My dear, information is my life force, you might say. I have no doubt that I know ninety-eight percent of everything happening on this station alone thanks to my contacts. Throughout the galaxy, maybe eight-six percent. The point is, that's a stupid question."

"I see." By now, Ashley's senses were on high alert. She didn't like people who seemed to know everything, and now she was being faced by a person who claimed to know whatever virtually anyone was doing across the galaxy. A slight shiver went up her spine. "Who exactly are you contacts?"

"Would that change anything?" Ashley almost left then and there from the level of smugness in the bastards voice. "Since you're here, you need information. You know I can give it to you, and you know that you information would be almost impossible to get elsewhere. So, again, let me ask you, would it make that big a difference to know where I get my information?"

"Fine, you win, but I doubt you can help. I need information on a SPECTRE named Saren. Still think you can help?" Ashley was indignant, she didn't like this guy. That feeling was only increased when the guy just hummed.

"Ooh, a SPECTRE you say? And Saren? You're in luck. I just recently received some information about him. The only question is, how do you plan to pay me for my help? Stuff like this isn't cheap."

At this, Ashley scowled. She walked over to the door, closed it, made sure it was locked, and then turned back to the volus who was just looking at her with perplexity. She then pulled out her gun and pointed it at the creature threateningly. "Now look, you're pissing me off. I need that information, and either you'll give it to me, or at the very least you're going to have a memory gap in which you can't recall any information."

The volus remained calm, though, used to this type of behavior. "I don't think that's going to happen. But I'll tell you what, I will give you something for your trouble. The Shadow Broker was recently betrayed by someone who has a connection to Saren. Unfortunately for you, we've already hired someone to deal with that little... inconvenience. However, last I heard was that he was gathering some last minute intel in C-sec, and would probably be willing to let you interrogate the mark before he finishes them off. He's a krogan. Name's Wrex."

/

Meanwhile, Shepard and Naruto stayed on the lift, going down to the lower levels of the Citadel. As they waited, the blonde turned to his commander and asked a simple question. "Hey, what chance do you think we have of actually finding Cole?"

Shepard was silent, eyes closed as he leaned against the wall, and for a second, Naruto actually thought the man was asleep. But, soon after his eyes opened and he gave an answer. "Well, what do you think? He managed to get away from you, and you're the only one so far who's witnessed what he can do, so what kind of chance do you think we stand?"

And, so, Naruto thought about it. And, the more he did, the bleaker the chances of actually finding Cole looked. Shepard looked at his lieutenant, waiting to hear what he said. Eventually, Naruto had gathered his thoughts enough to form a sentence or two. "When he attacked me... there was this look in his eye, one not normal for a simple dock-worker. He knew exactly what to do, exactly when to do it, and ended up managing to get away from me. There's obviously more to him than we know."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that was true." At the blonde's probing glance, Shepard explained. "Everyone keeps secrets, that's an undeniable truth. However, Colban definitely has a past that he wants to forget. His mannerisms tell us this much. Think about it, you know how jittery he seems, and it's clear that he has this thing about being in large crowds or out in the open. Take into account that he lived in a relatively small community on Eden Prime before it was attacked and his apparent training, and I'd say we have a special operations agent on our hands, maybe even a commando."

"You can tell all of that by spending just a few hours with him?" asked Naruto speculatively. He just received a nod. "Well, if that's true," began Naruto, mimicking Shepard's posture by leaning against the wall, "what hope do we have of locating him?"

"True, most agents of that type can vanish off the radar completely in minutes, hiding anywhere from in plain sight to dark corners and otherwise inaccessible area. Considering Colban's nature, the latter seems more likely. Hell, he might not even be on the Citadel anymore. But, you need to remember, this is all speculation. Besides, finding him isn't our main goal. We are to get dirt on Saren, remember that."

And with that, the lift finally reached its destination and Shepard got off, not even bothering to spare the blonde a second glance. Naruto followed soon after and the two men went their separate ways.

/

Shepard walked through the wide halls of the Citadel's lower levels, posture dignified and poised, immediately giving away his military status if his armor and weapons had yet to do so. The man tried to focus on the mission like any competent soldier would, especially since he held both high standards in himself and those around him, but couldn't help himself from noticing the looks he was receiving from the large crowds. The citizens had no doubt at least heard about the events of the trial.

In short, the man did his best to ignore the people while still keeping an eye out for Cole, the fugitive. In Shepard's mind, the man may have known more than he let on, and was therefore a person he could use to convict Saren, the main goal.

However, the fact still remained that the conviction was the main goal and capturing Cole a secondary objective. So, it left him with the question of where to get information. Of course, being in the military for as many years as he was doing what he did (fighting intergalactic terrorists, destabilizing rebel governments, ect.) in the manner that he did it (usually through the sight of his sniper rifle, but sometimes with simple deceit) had led him to pick up a few tips and tricks, one being that one two out of every twenty-five stall vendors were willing to barter information.

However, even with that one needed top retain a sense of caution and take what was given with a few grains of salt, as there was no telling the quality of the information until it was put to use. Though, given the severity of the situation at had, there was little other choice.

It was with a cool swiftness that Shepard carried himself to the doors that would lead him to the station's sub-level markets. From what he understood, despite C-sec's relatively close proximity, there were still quite a few high-profile crimes in this section of the station throughout the years, but it was mostly confined to possession and sale of contraband.

It was with no hesitation whatsoever that Shepard proceeded into the relatively crowded market, pushing past several alien life-forms and eliciting more than a few dissatisfied grunts on his way to a promising-looking turian stall vendor.

The reptilian/insect-like alien seemed to automatically know Shepard was approaching him, and, seeing as he was military, put on his best smile, thinking that he would be able to sell something. Sure, it was a filthy and ignorant human, but hey, a sale was a sale. Little did he know, things were not bound to go his way.

As soon as Shepard was close enough, the vendor initiated conversation. "Hello sir, you look like you need something." Shepard didn't answer, but it wasn't like the vendor gave him a chance to. "Don't worry, I've got everything you need. The question is, what are you looking for?"

Shepard approached even closer, but other than that, didn't give any impression that he had even heard what was said to him. The vendor didn't let this hinder his efforts, though. He had dealt with military before, and if this guy was going to bust him, he would have a completely different stride. No, this guy was looking for something. He would just have to go in for the kill.

Keeping that in mind, the vendor hunkered down a bit and waited for Shepard to get just a bit closer before whispering out to him. "Wait, let me guess, you're on the look out for weapons." now, that got a reaction out of Shepard, even if it was just a raised eye-brow. It caused the turian to flick his mandibles and grin, though. "Ah, I see that your interested."

"You could say that," Shepard replied, keeping his voice low, yet making sure that he was still able to be heard over the crowds. "Tell me, what do you have in stock."

"What don't I?" asked the turian, chuckling. "My supplier is very dedicated to making sure that his clients have the most sophisticated technology when it comes to weaponry, and not just fire-arms," here, the vendor looked around a bit before bringing a few items up from underneath the counter.

"Is that a grenade?" asked Shepard, making sure to keep the shock out of his voice. He was specifically eying a small disk-shaped device that the vendor was keeping hidden from everyone but him.

The turian chuckled. "You could say that. To be specific, though, it's more of a high-tech scrambler device that disrupts anything sending out an electronic signal in a five meter radius, including other weaponry. Not only that, but you can also up-link it to your omni-tool and it allows you to take direct control of more sophisticated hardware, by-passing security automatically."

"Well now, that is impressive. I wonder, then, what's this?" while saying this, Shepard pointed to a group of small odds and ends, namely the one closest to him. "It looks like a weapons modification."

"They are. However, they're special. For example, that one you're pointing to; you know how every gun has a unique signature that it imparts on whatever it hits? Well, that doubles as both a silencer and a mask, completely erasing your gun's signature and making any... accidents that may happen untraceable back to you."

"I see." the merchant knew that he was playing a dangerous game now, but nonetheless was confident in his ability to sell something to the commander without being busted for his, less than reputable, business practices. Unfortunately for him, Shepard didn't play nice when he wanted something. "While all this is nice, I'm afraid I'm on the look out for something else."

"Oh?" the turian cocked his head to the side slightly. "And what is it that you need?"

"Information." That one word immediately caused the turian's face to turn sour. With a cross between a grimace and a scowl on his face, the vendor replied.

"Look, I don't know what game you're playing, or what makes you think you have a right going around and talking about shit like that, but I have a reputation to keep. It would be best if you just leave now before things get ugly."

Much to the vendor's surprise, Shepard just shrugged and turned away. Before he started walking, though, the man said something that made the turian's heart momentarily stop beating. "Fair enough. Don't worry, though, I'll be sure to send some customers your way. After all, I'm sure C-Sec would only be all too interested in your wares."

The commander didn't make it more than three feet before he heard the words that made him grin. "Hey, wait up! No need to be hasty!" At that moment, the turian was internally berating himself. Why the hell had he given out such sensitive information in the first place? because he thought he was dealing with a simple minded jar-head who would willingly by illegal weapons to get the upper hand? Damn it all to hell! Damn his stupid supplier, damn those fucking C-Sec, damn the humans, fuck, damn his own greedy ways!

"What happened? Moments ago you seemed like you wanted me to die, and now you want to talk to me again? How does that work?"

The turian just flicked his mandibles and growled while hunching over his counter. "Don't push it, human." Shepard didn't seem to take any stock in the would-be insult, and continued to look on with a passive gaze despite his recently impish nature.

"Are you going to tell me what I want to know now or not?" asked the commander, becoming quickly bored with this situation. There was a bit of grumbling, but other than that, the turian just seemed to be waiting to heart what Shepard wanted. "So tell me, have you heard about the shooting that took place at the Presidium not too long ago?"

Here, the turian bolted upright, eyes wide and mandibles twitching rapidly in alarm. "Hey, I didn't have anything to do with that, so don't even think about..."

Shepard cut in before the vendor could finish, speaking in his most commanding and assertive voice, "Shut up and listen." The turian quickly straightened up, obeying Shepard like it was second-nature. "Now it's obvious that you know more than you're letting on. I don't care about whatever moral high-ground you think you possess, but you will tell me what you know."

Shakily, the turian spoke, eyes darting around. "L-listen, I really don't know anything about the shooting, but a guy came here two days ago and asked for one of those signature erasing mods along with a sniper rifle that was light weight and could easily be ditched if the need arise. Before you ask, I don't know who bought it and at the time I didn't care since the credits went through, but I did hear about the guy that was the supposed target. There's a guy matching his description on the upper level of the market. If you look over your left shoulder, you should see him standing in the corner."

And that's just what Shepard did. Being as covert as possible, Shepard peaked over his left shoulder, and saw a slightly shaggy blonde man with at least a bit of scruff on his chin. From his orientation, Shepard couldn't positively identify the person, but it did look a lot like Colban. Turning back to the vendor, Shepard flashed a small smile. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it? In fact, due to your helpfulness, you've managed to sway me; I'll take a dozen of those scrambler grenades."

"Uh, okay." The turian was a bit surprised by the request, but nonetheless retrieved what was asked for. He then rang up the price, and, while he normally would have protested Shepard's taking the merchandise and walking away while the credits transferred, the vendor was still in a slight state of shock. That only grew when he saw that the commander had actually overpaid for the grenades. Looking back up, the turian saw the man already some ways off, no doubt knowing what he did. There was no denying it; Shepard definitely had Russian blood in him. (1)

Meanwhile, the commander in question was already half-way up the steps to the upper level of the market place. Despite all of the sounds around him, all he could hear was the sound of his boots against the metal stairs. In fact, everything else around Shepard seemed distorted, even to the point that he had tunnel vision as he focused in on his target. He stayed as inconspicuous as he could, vaguely acknowledging a civilian enough to push past them. So far, it seemed that he hadn't been spotted.

However, he still wasn't close enough to make a positive I.D. on the man. Shepard just couldn't get a good look at the man's face from the way it was turned away from him. He would need to get closer still, possibly giving away his presence and, if the man turned out to be Colban, causing him to flee. Then, again, for all he knew, the man was dead and just propped up against the wall.

Shepard wasn't willing to push it, though. So, taking great pains, Shepard moved ever more cautiously towards the man. The downside to this new precaution, however, was that he did now look a bit out of place amongst the hustle and bustle of the crowds. Shepard kept low, though, trying to get as close as possible without tipping the suspect off.

Then, Shepard's heart just seemed to stop, before kicking into overdrive in an attempt adrenaline throughout his system. Unexpectedly, the suspect's head he turned up, and both of their eyes locked, time, for all pretense and purposes, stopping all together. The commander's hand mover towards his pistol, wanting to be ready in case the suspect made a run for it. He would be sure to shoot out his legs, and if he somehow missed, he would be prepared to chase the man through the panicked crowds.

Luckily, or unluckily, as it may seem, a chase didn't appear to be necessary. Though, that was because after several moments, Shepard realized that the man was not Colban. In fact, the man seemed a bit excited once he realized that the man approaching him was the commander. And, now that he was closer, Shepard could make out several key differences between him and Cole.

For one, Cole had a more ragged look about him, like he was perpetually tired, while this man seemed easily excited, at least around him. Cole was reclusive, whereas this man was practically beaming at him, even if he seemed a little down. Cole ban was both taller and had a darker complexion while this guy was a bit shorter than him and rather white. Finally, Cole had longer hair and a bushier beard, while this guy was more well kept, and while it was possible that Cole could have cleaned himself up a bit more, all the other factors proved that this was not Cole. Still, the man still may be of use, and he had already seen him, so the commander might as well go over to him.

Seeing that Shepard actually was approaching him, the blonde stranger appeared to get a bit more excited, actually causing the commander to second guess this a bit. No, there was no time for doubts, he decided. If there was a chance this man knew something he had to ask. So, taking a small breath, the man plunged head first into a conversation with this man.

To his surprise, though, before he could ask the man a question, he was already beginning to converse with him. "Oh, wow. You're Commander Shepard, aren't you? You're really him!" Shepard tried to calm the man down, but it seemed that it wouldn't be easy. "I've heard about how much of a merciless guy you are out on the battlefield, but to me, that just makes you all the better. It shows that you'd go to any lengths to protect humanity. Hey, I know that we just met and all, but can I have your autograph?"

"Yeah, sure," said Shepard slowly, not really sure what to do and caught off guard. Before he knew it, the man had given him a piece of paper and a pen. "So, who is this going out to?"

"Oh, right! My name's Conrad Verner. It's an honor to meet you, sir." As he said that, he also saluted. Right now, Shepard pretty much just wanted this to end, but had to stick through with this. He had been through worse, after all. Hell, he had been forced to bear witness to the deaths of everyone he loved on Mindoir all those years ago, he could suffer through a few minutes with this guy. And then, the newly introduced Conrad said something that gave the commander a bit of hope. "Say, I heard about what happened on Eden Prime and at the trial. Tough luck. But, hey, I know that you'll get the people responsible, you're just that good."

"Really?" asked Shepard as he finally handed the blonde back the autograph and the pen, which prompted him to say something about his wife flipping out when she saw it. The commander wasn't really paying attention, though. "Hey, you haven't seen a guy that looks a bit like you, sticks out amongst a crowd due to his height, maybe a bit dirty?"

"Oh, wow, you think he might be one of the one's responsible?" asked a man in an awed voice. Shepard resisted the urge to slap the man, and amazingly was able to not berate him, no matter how much he wanted to. He had no place asking these questions. They didn't know each other, and the guy wasn't even in C-Sec as far as he could tell.

"I'm just following a lead right now, but I need to ask again, have you seen a guy like that?"

"Well, yeah, now that you mention it, I think I did see a guy enter the clinic on the northern side of the Wards earlier. He seemed kind of out of it."

"Thanks, that's all I needed," and with that, Shepard was on his way, ignoring Conrad as he said a goodbye to him. The commander swore that if they ever met again, it would be too soon. Now, he just hoped that the tip paid off.

/

While both Ashley and Shepard were making some headway in their investigations, our blonde lieutenant was much less fortunate. "Sir, for the last time, you must be at least twenty-one years of age if you're a human to enter. I can not let you in without the proper identification."

"And likewise, I'm fucking twenty-six years old, and I'm on an official military investigation that requires me to do a sweep of this entire wing of the Wards, including this establishment. Now there is a potentially dangerous individual on the loose, and I will not allow you to hinder me any longer. Move or I will have you arrested for obstruction." It was quite obvious that Naruto was nearing the end of his rope, and what would happen if he was kept waiting outside the Flux any longer not even he knew.

Hell, he didn't even know why he was being barred entry in the first place. It was more of a casino than a bar anyway, and in either case, he still should have been allowed to at least go in. Naruto didn't know that he would have needed his I.D. with him when he left the ship that morning. He didn't know why he didn't just transmit all of the needed information to his omni-tool a long time ago like most sensible people did. Maybe it was because he tended to mess around with it a lot and a bunch of data was periodically wiped off only to be reloaded thanks to his own personal terminal. Or maybe it was just an irrational fear of being remotely hacked. Most importantly, he didn't know why Shepard made _him_ search the bars and clubs. The man knew that he was the most likely target to get flack for trying to enter. He would need to ask later. Regardless, he needed to find a way in. god, if it was this difficult to enter Flux, the blonde dreaded to think how hard it would be to get into Chora's Den.

It appeared while Naruto was lost in thought, though, the turian bouncer had called out two more colleagues to help him, another turian and a human. When the blonde noticed this, his eyes widened slightly, before turning to the lead turian as he spoke. "Sir, you have ten seconds to vacate the premisses. If you fail to comply, these two will have no choice but to take you to C-Sec offices for trespassing."

Now, Naruto was faced with a choice as the lead bouncer slowly counted down. For one, he could do as he was asked and leave with his tail between his legs, and either admit failure or try Chora's Den. On the other hand he could get in contact with Shepard and ask the man for a solution, though that was just as bad and humiliating as admitting defeat, something his pride would not let him do. Of course, there was also a third option. He could hold his ground and see them try to take him to C-Sec. And if they succeeded, he could probably get the whole matter cleared up their. Guess which option he picked.

Mimicking his commander's usual stance, Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and let the turian finish his stupid little countdown. The alien's eyes narrowed as he reached zero. "Fair enough," he said, eying Naruto as he still refused to move. Then, turning to his partners, he gave the order to take the blonde away. The two replied by grasping either one of Naruto's arms and dragging him down the hallway. The blonde just continued to glare at the bouncer, teeth clenched, as his feet scrapped against the floor until he disappeared around a corner. He didn't struggle.

As the blonde was dragged further and further from his destination, he received more and more stares. That was understandable, though, as it wasn't often that you saw someone actually being dragged through the Citadel, Wards or not. Suffice to say, a few were more interested than others. It was only when the looks began to diminish that the blonde realized that something was wrong. Apparently, so did one of the bouncers.

"Hey, Grennik," asked the human dragging him to his turian companion, who turned to eye him in response, "where are we going? I thought we were to bring him to C-Sec."

"And that's what we're doing," replied the turian. "There's a guy down here who has a holding cell, so we can get a few officers to come get him. It's a pain dragging him around, isn't it."

The human chuckled a bit, "Yeah, you can say that agai-..." The man was cut off by the sound of a gunshot, followed by his chest exploding in a spray of crimson blood all over the area. He quickly went and fell to the floor, staring Naruto in the eye as he landed, his mouth open in an eternal gasp of pain and shock.

The turian, Grennik, shocked by this turn of events, quickly released Naruto and reached for a hidden weapon, turning to face the person responsible for his partner's death. From his position on the ground, Naruto only saw the barrel of a shotgun get pressed against the turians face before there was a dull boom, and his body slumped down like his partner's.

Now unrestrained, and no longer focusing on his captors, Naruto quickly summoned a barrier and hid behind it, just in time for a few round of fire to impact against it. The blonde focused to keep the barrier up, while simultaneously drawing his sidearm and taking stock of his surroundings. It was a very small alleyway that saw little to no foot traffic, with the only exit appearing to be the direction his enemies were coming from, about four turians the blonde concluded after a quick check

internally, he swore as the people trying to kill him continued to lay down suppressing fire, not letting him return any shots. It was also becoming more and more difficult to keep the barrier up, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before it feel again. He needed to find some more permanent cover. The blonde quickly spotted a door at the end of the hall, and knew that it was his only hope of salvation at the moment. He would have to run. But, first, he had to take care of the guy trying to flank him.

Waiting until the turian got a little closer, the blonde quickly popped out and hit him with a blast of biotic power strong enough to collapse his chest, despite the tough exoskeleton. He impacted a nearby wall hard enough that he just stuck there for a moment before falling face first to the ground. One down, three to go.

Unfortunately, in his moment of victory, his concentration slipped slightly, causing his barrier to shatter and the shots to start coming through. Quickly realizing his folly, the blonde quickly rolled out of the way., and made for the door he had spotted earlier. He felt more than a few bullets impact his back, but luckily his shields absorbed most of the damage. His luck grew even more as it turned out that the door was already open, allowing Naruto to dive through just as his shields failed. Quickly rising to his feet, the blonde closed the door than rerouted the wiring to make it inaccessible from the other side.

Naruto knew, though, that that was unlikely to keep them from him; they would continue to try and find a way in and kill him. The lieutenant would be damned if he let that happen. He knew at that moment that he would need to prepare for when they actually made it in. looking around the room, he saw that it was mostly spartan. Like he had heard from the two bouncers earlier, there was a containment field in the far corner of the room, but other than that, there was only a desk and a few pieces of furniture. Despite the little good it would do, the blonde got to work on creating a barricade.

Idly, he though of contacting Shepard, but what good would that really do? Help was a few minutes out, more than enough time for everything here to finish up, added to the fact that the other two probably already had their own problems. No, he had to handle this himself. Naruto's only saving grace was that the doorway was narrow so that they could only enter one at a time.

That theory was about to be put to the test as the blonde hunkered down behind his makeshift cover, and it wasn't long before he began to got suspicious from the lack of activity. He had no doubt that the trio was resourceful enough to get through the doorway, so what was taking them? Had they given up? That was doubtful. Had they somehow accomplished their mission without killing him? Again, unlikely. Perhaps they were forced to leave? No, that was nothing but wishful thinking. So, what was with the wait?

The question was answered as an explosion rocketed the door off and into the room, sending in a thick cloud of smog in with it, stinging Naruto's eyes and obstructing his view of anyone trying to enter the room. Blindly, the blonde sent out a wave of power through the door, hoping to impede his assailants if they were trying to enter at that moment. He became slightly satisfied as he heard a grunt, going so far as to let a small grin reach his lip. It quickly disappeared as a small device landed right next to him behind his barrier.

_'Grenade!'_ he thought, eyes wide as he attempted to dive out of the way of the imminent explosion. He was successful for the most part, but the blast was larger than he expected, and still sent him reeling as he tumbled to the ground a few meters away as the shock-wave hit him.

Groggily, Naruto sat up and held his head, just wanting the world to stop spinning. Then, he remembered what was going on and quickly raised his arm to point his gun, only to realize that it was no longer with him. Frantically looking around, Naruto spotted his weapon a few feet away in the center of the room, and, not really thinking, scrambled as fast as he could over to it.

Just as he was about to grasp it, a foot came down on his wrist, causing Naruto to his in pain and effectively stopping his progress while another foot kicked the gun over to a wall. Looking up with a glare, Naruto saw the smirking face of a turian over him, pointing a gun at him. Seeing that he only had one shot at this, Naruto quickly brought up his free hand and prepared to thrust it forward and send a wave of energy to knock the turian off of him, only to soon find that arm restrained behind his back by another turian that he failed to account for. Above him, the first turian chuckled.

"Come now, is this all the prized _natural biotic_ is capable of?" the question was asked mockingly as the gun was shoved further into the blonde's face, causing him to growl. This just prompted the pressure on both wrists to increase and another gun to get jammed into his back as the turians to chuckle some more. "I'll admit, your biotic attacks are, indeed, powerful; you managed to do in two of our own. But, looks like in the end, you couldn't save your life."

During the whole conversation, Naruto had been looking for a way out of this mess, while also hoping that one of the guys restraining him would be stupid enough to reveal who they were working for. There was nothing. If there was just one guy, he could probably deal with them easily, but, as it was, without a distraction of some kind, he was as good as dead.

That's when he noticed it. A vent on the ceiling dropped open. The blonde tensed at this, not knowing what to expect, but hoping it would give him the opportunity he needed so far, the turians didn't seem to notice it. That meant that they were about ready to kill him. If something were going to happen, it needed to happen now. "Well kid, it's been fun. Now, try not to scream."

The blonde wasn't really paying attention to the turian, for at that moment, someone popped out of the open vent, inverted, and shot three rounds into the first turian's back. As he fell, the turian on the blonde's back was shocked enough to allow him to throw himself backwards, slamming his head into the turian's jaw.

As the alien fell back, Naruto rolled over and sent him flying into the wall, followed by increasing the gravity around his body in a singularity. The last thing the turian saw through blurry eyes was a large desk flying at him before both became imbedded in the wall.

With that out of the way, Naruto saw the man who quite possibly saved his life drop in fully from the ceiling, and, not wasting anymore time, the blonde raced across the room and rolled to his gun, rising on one knee as he leveled it as the unknown person. After what he just went through, he wasn't risking anything.

"At ease, Uzumaki. It's me." That voice. Naruto recognized that voice. Narrowing his eyes, he lowered his gun a bit until the person completely came into focus. The blonde nearly dropped his gun from the shock.

"Y-you! You're Nihlus, right?" Rising up, Naruto holstered his gun and approached the turian who should have probably been dead. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the hospital?"

"Not according to the doctors. If you ask them, I should be in the morgue." The turian just shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"That still doesn't explain why you're here." By now, Naruto was pacing around the room, trying to wrap his head around a situation that was increasingly becoming more outlandish. "Hell, how did you even now what was going on here? Have you been following me? How long? If so, why didn't you turn up to help sooner?" It was obvious that the blonde didn't like this.

Apparently aware of this, Nihlus tried to calm the man down. "Please, Uzumaki, calm down and I'll try to explain everything." The blonde was hesitant, still not really sure what he should do. It was only after a few tense seconds that he did decide to relax and allow the turian to explain himself.

"Fine, but make it quick. I'm on an investigation."

"I'm aware. I heard about the whole incident with the council, and I want to help you expose Saren." It sounded like Nihlus had more to say, but Naruto cut him off.

"If you want to help then why didn't you stop by the council to tell them what happened? We could have this done and over with in an hour if you just did that."

It soon appeared that Nihlus was running low on patience as well, as he voice soon turned harsh in an attempt to get the blonde to listen. "Will you just let me finish?" After a few moments of shocked silence, the turian continued. "Now listen, Saren's reach is far. I don't know how far, but he managed to get an operative into my hospital room and nearly managed to kill me. He would have succeeded, too, if I hadn't escaped into an air vent just as the firebomb he set went off. It was after that while crawling through the air shafts like a rodent that I heard the news reports of what had happened." Naruto remained silent through all of this, amazed by what the turian had been through so far. This allowed Nihlus to continue unhindered. "You'd be surprised by how much people reveal when they don't know someone else is listening. It was thanks to this that I found out that the owner of Chora's Den is somehow tied to Saren. After discovering this, it was a breeze to sneak into c-sec and gain access to the armory so I could prepare to capture him and gain information. It was on this return trip that I noticed that you were in trouble, and decided to help out."

Seeing that Nihlus was now done, Naruto put on a serious face as he finished absorbing the information. "If that's the case, I need to warn the Commander. "I'll tell him to meet me at..." it was at that point the blonde was cut off.

"No, contacting Shepard is too dangerous. The line may be bugged, and if it is, you're not only jeopardizing the mission by allowing the enemy to prepare, but also your lives. You need to have faith that your Commander..." Nihlus wasn't able to finish that though, as he soon began to sway, catching Naruto's attention. The blonde watched as the turian's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he began to collapse, only to be caught a second later by the vigilant lieutenant. Quickly, Naruto helped Nihlus onto his back and held his head in a way to better increase air flow.

"Hey, Nihlus! Come on, stay with me!" for a moment, the turian was still, and Naruto was about to start giving CPR to try and bring him back. Fortunately, it seemed that it wouldn't have to come to that as it was soon after the turian woke up and pitched upwards violently to sit on his own. As he did so, Naruto noticed that Nihlus' breathing was heavy. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now," he replied through a gasp, trying to get his breathing back under control. "Must have been a result of the head trauma." Then, as if expecting what Naruto might say next, Nihlus shot the thought down. "And no, I will not go back to the hospital. If you've already forgotten, there are people trying to kill us."

"Right." Naruto was a bit embarrassed now because he was considering the hospital as a reasonable option. He hid it, though. "So what do we do now?"

Shakily rising to his feet, Nihlus let himself adjust to being bipedal again, using the wall as support. As soon a she regained his bearings, the turian told Naruto what he was thinking, "Listen, help me back into the vent and go to Chora's Den. Find a way into the owner's office, and I'll follow you in from above. You find out what he knows, and I'll run distraction so no one interrupts you. Then, you get out of there and we find some place to meet up with your squad."

Naruto, after a bit of reluctance about letting the injured turian back up into the vents alone, agreed to the plan. After lifting Nihlus back up and watching him disappear, Naruto made it out of the area quickly, not wanting to risk anymore time to allow the possibility of C-Sec showing up, whilst still staying as inconspicuous as possible.

/

It wasn't long before Naruto came to the hallway that split-off and lead to Chora's Den. For a moment, Naruto stood in the desolate hallway, wondering how he was going to go about this. However, knowing that Nihlus was waiting, the blonde decided to wing it and passed through the doorway.

He came out into a large open space, and noticed that the walkway led to the left, and at the end saw a bouncer leaning against the wall. He hadn't seemed to have noticed him yet. So, steadily, nonchalantly, Naruto made his way to the entrance of the club, music gradually reaching his ears.

Only when he was a few feet away did the turian bouncer notice presence, and, more specifically, his youthful looks. "Hey, kid," the alien called out to catch the blonde's attention. Knowing what was coming, Naruto tuned the bouncer out and looked to the side, and began to let his mind wander. "You need to be at least twenty-one to enter. Now unless you have the proper identification I suggest... hey are you listening to me?" It was at this point that the turian noticed that the blonde was gazing off into space. "Hey, what are you looking at?"

At this point, Naruto glanced at the turian out of the corner of his eye. "Hm? Oh, it's just that,and correct me if I'm wrong," here, Naruto looked fully back over to the side, and even added emphasis by pointing over with his finger, "is that a badger with a gun?" (2)

The turian, confused, tilted his head to the side and then looked over to where the blonde was pointing. What the hell was a badger? However, as soon as the turian took his eyes off of him, Naruto acted, and quickly slammed his palm into the side of the bouncer's head, sending it crashing against the wall. The lieutenant watched as the bouncer slumped to the ground and then proceeded casually into the bar like nothing happened.

/

And there you have it. I had intended for this to finish up with the Citadel, but after such a delay, I figured something was better than nothing. Now, onto annotations.

1. This is exploiting the stereotype that Russians can be very bi-polar, often acting very violently or in a way to ensure their own needs, as such when Shepard pretty much threatened information out of the turian, before doing a complete heel-face-turn and becoming extremely benevolent and generous, as seen by Shepard giving the turian extra credits at the end of the exchange. This stereotype can be commonly seen in the past through times of war when stories would pop up from women, claiming that they were raped by invading Russian armies and passed out, only to wake up in a safe place and have provisions delivered regularly until fighting in the area ceased. Shepard's case may not have been as extreme, but it still works.

2. If you know what this is from, your diet probably consists of epicness and pure win... and probably cake.

What does the owner of Chora's Den know? How are Shepard and Ashley fairing in their own investigations. Will the turian bouncer ever discover what a badger is? All besides the latter discovered next time on Natural Biotic. So, with that out of the way, here is the public service announcement. As you may know, Mass Effect 3 is slated for release holiday of this year. Originally, I would have thought that I had more time, but, plainly, I don't. I want to get started on the third part of this at least some time close to after its release, maybe three months, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that will actually happen. Here's my proposal: I need a co-author.

Let it be known that I am extremely hesitant about this, but I doubt that this story would ever get done if left to myself. So, readers, I need your help. Basically, I need someone who can write about half a chapter if their given the basic plot of that chapter and key details so I can focus on other stories as well, but still update this. They would be able to incorporate their own ideas as well, and would obviously be given credit for their work, and probably something else I'm forgetting to mention.

So, if you want more information, p.m. me and I'll give you an interview. Really, there's no deadline, this will just keep going until I find a suitable co-author. I would have asked Archerdood, but I don't quite know where he is. Besides, I know he's got a tight schedule. Please, people, I'm on my knees here. Whatever I had for pride I lying broken at your feet. I may have brought this on myself, but I don't know what will happen if I don't get help.

So, yeah, I'll probably update RosarioKitsune next, then the poll stories, then Mistakes, then this again. I'll start a rotation and that will hopefully help. And that's about it for this chapter. Before the word count, though, please just let me ask you not to think any less of me for begging like that. Oh yeah, and here's a story outline:

9: finishing up the Citadel and some ship time

10: rescuing Liara

11 and 12: Feros

13 and 14: Noveria

15: Virmire

16: Citadel impounding

17: That one planet that I can't remember the name of

18: final confrontation with Saren

19, 20, possibly 21: Shepard's 'death', and what Naruto did in the two year time skip

22: ME2 start

This is all subject to change

So, this has been another chapter brought to you by your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth, totaling 9,730 words!


	9. The Warrior, The Protector, The Rouge

Chapter 9: The Warrior, The Protector, The Rouge, and The Rescue

"So, you must be Wrex," said Ashley, approaching said yellow-faced krogan. She had just made her way down to the C-Sec Central Booking and had witnessed a little... spat between her person of interest and a few miscellaneous individuals. In reality, it just consisted of a few threats before the war-monger scared them away.

As the alien turned to face her, she thought she may have seen a questioning, though unperturbed, look on his face. "Hurry it up, human. I have an... appointment to keep."

"Yeah, Fist, right? From what I hear, your aiming to shove that gun of yours down his throat."

Ashley leaned up against a wall as she said this, crossing her arms and indicating with her head, mimicking her commander's signature pose. It was actually kinda of satisfying to see the mercenary's irked yet slightly bemused face, even if the latter barley shined through.

"I'll admit," he grunted out, "that you intrigue me with the interest you've seem to have taken in me. However, if you're here to stop me, I suggest you go on down to Chora's Den and wait with the rest of the fodder for your death. It'll keep the splatter contained. And tell you boss I'm coming to rip the organs out of that feeble thing he calls a body."

"No, no, no, wait, I think you misunderstand me," the woman pleaded as the krogan pushed his way past her. She managed to catch his attention again, through from the look on his face, Wrex's patience was as worn as it was going to get, so she got what she wanted to say out as quickly as she could. "I'm don't want to stop you, I want to help you."

For maybe a millisecond, Wrex held an incredulous look on his face, before it morphed in outrage. He quickly stomped over to the woman, frightening her, and almost causing her to draw her weapon. Luckily, though, the behemoth stopped by shoving his face into hers.

"Listen good and listen well, human," he growled out like some possessed being. "Never again believe that any krogan, especially a krogan as proud as me, would ever entertain the thought of receiving the _help_ of such an inferior race, especially when your species is as transient as they are. Now, you have three seconds to either rectify your statement or get the hell out of my face."

tears stung at the edges of the gunnery sargent's eyes, though not from any fear. No, it was from the putrid smell imminating from the krogan's mouth. However even with her attention somewhat focused on figuring out just how to describe the smell, she knew that her life was in danger. She had to come clean.

"What I meant was Fist has some information that I want. I figure that we go in together, clean up whatever thugs he has protecting him, and I can question him before you blow his brains all over his office."

for a moment, the krogan just eyed her with his fierce look, before he pushed her back and began marching away. Ashley could only watch him go, thinking that she had just blown her big chance, and was about to contact Shepard and say to regroup at Chora's Den, before the monster tu5ned over his shoulder and called back to her.

"Hey, are you coming or what? I don't have all day, and the sooner fist is wiped off the plane of existence, the more gratifying it will be."

Slightly shocked, the woman forgot all about contacting her superiors and jogged to catch back up to the murderous beast, not willing to miss her chance at getting solid evidence.

The two were a queer sight to be seen, walking through the corridors of the Citadel. However, seeing how they were equipped, how they were carrying themselves, people didn't spare them a second glance, too fearful for their lives. It wasn't long before Ashley herself became unnerved and tried to start a conversation.

"So, how did you come to work for the Shadow Broker?"

"I'm a mercenary. They contacted me through their channels."

The woman was expecting more, but when it became evident that it wasn't coming, she tried a different approach.

"So, why did you take this job?"

This time, Wrex sent a nasty glance Ashley's way, obviously becoming annoyed with the questions, but answered nonetheless. "Because the pay was good, and this guy's a leech. Even if he wasn't, though, I would have still killed him."

Feeling as if this was the start of a good conversation, the soldier pushed. "So, this guy's a leech, but your employers aren't?"

"I didn't say that," the krogan grunted. "In my opinion, their both weak. Anyone who would buy or sell information ii, either to gain funds in the latter, or because they are too incompetent or cowardly to find out for themselves. That, or they lack the balls to just go for something without having every base covered. Not to say there isn't a fine line between being prepared and reckless, but doing that isn't the warrior's way."

And with that tone of finality, and the connotations against her that came with it, Ashley knew the topic was closed. However, seeing as they still had a few more minutes to kill, and the closer they got, the more her nerves acted up, she tried again in order to take her mind off of the possibilities.

"So..."

Wrex cut her off before she could get any further. "I know not all humans are like this, so why do you have to be? Be silent know or I'll kill Fist before you get your chance to question him."

And so Ashley was quiet for the remainder of the journey. As the duo reached the door with lead into the sort of antechamber before the club, Wrex turned to her, taking his shotgun from over his shoulder before asking a question.

"This is the last chance you get. You sure you want to go in? No doubt that the patrons have already been evacuated and the guards are stationed."

Ashley thought about it, and really, she wanted more back-up. However, she also didn't want to look weak. So, she mimicked the krogan, taking her assault rifle and nodding. This caused a rare grin to form on Wrex's face as he moved foreward. However, both were stopped at the sound of a questioning voice.

"Ashley?"

(Earlier and Elsewhere):

As Shepard made his way to the clinic he was told about, he couldn't help but have some extisential reflection on this whole matter. Such as, why did it involve him; why his crew? Sure, he knew that it had to do with the Normandy's mission to Eden Prime, but why was it him that was picked for the mission? No doubt Anderson had personally asked for him, but then why Anderson? Not to berate the man, but there were probably others of his position that were better suited for the job.

Then, there was the crew. Why did he Anderson let him choose the people he worked closest with? He had chosen Jenkins because the soldier, rest his soul, had been from the planet to begin with and could have been a good reference on some aspects that could have occurred during the mission. But why did he choose Uzumaki? Sure, he was humanities 'Natural Biotic' and all, but such statements didn't really phase him. He didn't care about the youthful chap's abilities, he would take what was said about him with a grain of salt. The government wanted him on a good field run, but as far as they were concerned, little to no danger was actually involved, and truthfully, Shepard could care less about the spooks' hidden agendas. He did as he was told.

There was just something about the blond's profile that made him pick it. He had a feeling something bad would have happened if he didn't. It was strange since he usually didn't pay attention to that kind of thing. Sure, he used his gut instinct in battle, but not when time was available like then. Couple that with the fact that Uzumaki had set off the beacon and got him sucked up in it, and ever since then he had these... visions every time he closed his eyes, unable to sort them out or make distinctions about what he was seeing. Idly, Shepard wondered if he made the wrong decision.

He shook his head to banish the thought. There was a reason he chose not to think like that. It always led him to thinking if he had made the right choice against the Bartarians. Of course, he knew that given the chance, he still would have sent his men to die for the cause of the time. As cold-hearted as it was, he considered them, while not acceptable losses by any means, necessary for what was 'needed' at the time.

His contemplation was definitively ended as he approached the entrance to the clinic. He stopped, eyes narrowing, as he heard the signs of a struggle going on inside. Immediately, he thought it was Cole, but pushed the thought aside as he wanted to see before making any drastic decisions. Nonetheless, his hand hovered by his side-arm for easier access pending on the situation as he hit the release on the wall and the door slid open.

Inside, Shepard could see a bunch of men, all armed, probably part of some gang, either tearing up the office or harassing a red-haired woman, presumably the doctor of the clinic. Behind the small wall in front of him, which would normally cause one to snake around it to reach the center of the room, but was easily short enough to jump over, crouched Garrus, gun in hand, who acknowledged him with a nod. No one else seemed to notice him yet, though, as a thug began speaking.

"I trust you didn't tell anyone about Fist. It would be unfortunate for something to happen, Doctor Michel."

"No! I swear I told no one!" the woman shouted, undoubtedly panicked as the thug insisted on waving his gun around.

"Well, that's good," was the response as he imposingly held his gun near her head. It was at that moment that the thug realized Shepard was standing there, gun drawn. "What the hell is this?"

As the man called out and got everyone's attention, alerting them to Shepard, the lead thug took to grabbing Michel and holding her hostage, gun definitely pointing at her head, ready to kill. In return, Shepard aimed at him, ready to take the shot, but quickly changed his mind, instead shooting another thug behind them as Garrus popped up from behind his cover, taking everyone but the commander by surprise and nailing the lead thug in the head.

As he slowly fell to the floor, the doctor pitched herself foreward and covered herself on the ground, Shepard himself taking cover behind the same wall as Garrus as a firefight broke out.

"Situation?" asked Shepard, a bit bored as he popped up over the cover he and Garrus were using and fired a few shots into a thug, seeing him drop before taking cover again.

Just as unconcerned, though a bit more worried about the doctor's well-being, Garrus too fired, shooting another two thugs in the head with one shot as one passed too closely behind the turian's target. "From what I understand, these guys work for Fist, owner of Chora's Den. A few days ago, an injured quarian arrived here, apparently with damning evidence about Saren. She wanted to get in touch with the Shadow Broker, and, knowing that he worked for him, our good Doctor Michel here directed our quarian friend to Fist. Somethings wrong, though, so I suggest we pay a visit to our little mogul as soon as we clean up this clinic. Nice shot."

The last comment was a response to Shepard shooting a bio-hazard canister some of the thugs had foolishly crowded around. Blinded by the escaping gases and coughing from the fumes, they were easy pickings for the sharpshooting duo.

Before long, the last of the thugs were finished with, as Garrus quickly moved over to the doctor to help her up, Shepard close behind. Still overwhelmed from the recent events, she was out of breath as she attempted to thank the two. "Thank you! I-I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up when you did."

As she was on the verge of tears, Garrus put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, it's over now. Are you going to be okay if we leave?"

The turian received a nod.

"Okay, contact C-Sec to have them help out around here and take your statement. We want to stay but we have to take care of Fist."

They once again received a, albeit more hesitant, nod, before they raced out the door, intent on getting to Chora's Den as soon as they could. As they raced through the halls of the Wards, Garrus thought it appropriate to thank Shepard while they had a moment.

"Thanks for turning up when you did, Shepard. We gave me the perfect opportunity to take one of those bastards down."

"No problem," was the commander's curt response. A thought occurred to him, then. "If you don't mind me prying, why do you want to take Saren down so badly? After all, most members of a race are usually intent on protecting members of their own, especially prominent ones."

"Don't get me wrong, Shepard, I take pride in my race. However, I've known he was dirty for a while now. After countless months of investigating, though, I couldn't come up with any concrete evidence. I will not have the good name of my species dragged through the mud, and I value your help in this endeavour."

"It's good to know we have your help, at least. Thanks, Garrus."

Things were silent for a moment as the two weaved through people, getting closer and closer to their destination. Suddenly, another thought occurred to Shepard.

"Shit!"

"What is it?" asked the turian, a bit concerned.

"I was supposed to ask the doctor if she had seen Colban. I don't suppose you have any idea where we could look for him after this?"

"No, sorry. I got a bit caught up in this Saren business."

"Well, I supposed finding him is a moot point now. After all, if we can find that quarian, we may have all the evidence we need."

He received a nod of agreement as they closed in on the destination. Unknown to them, they started running faster, but came to an immediate stop as they came to the entrance of the antechamber to the club. For in front of them held a surprise.

"Ashley?" asked Shepard, causing her and a krogan to stop in their tracks.

"Shepard?" Ashley asked, just as surprised as she spun around. "And Garrus, too? Where's Naruto?" Wrex, though, eyed the newcomers with suspicion.

"Friends of yours, human?" he asked with his guttural voice.

"You could say that," was Ashley's response.

"Commander Shepard, Human Systems Alliance," he said, offering his hand. A bit hesitant, Wrex took it.

"I've heard of you. You gave the bartarians hell on . You're pretty good... for a human. Urdnot Wrex."

Garrus didn't offer his hand, just nodding to Wrex. "Garrus Vakarian."

This caused a grunt from the krogan. "What's a C-Sec officer doing here?"

"I'm investigating a possible lead into corruption within the Citadel. What's a mercenary doing here?"

"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker. I'm here to teach him a lesson."

Both of their voices held no small amount of hostility, and it was obvious that they weren't going to get along. To Shepard, though, that didn't matter. He just needed reassurance that they wouldn't shoot each other in the back.

"Listen, there's obviously a compromise. We all go in their together, we get our information, then you can do whatever you want with him. The more people we have to get through whatever defenses he may have, the better. Are we all agreed?"

after a bit of hesitation, there was a series of nods and grunts

"Good. Let's go."

"But Sir," interrupted Ashley, "What about Uzumaki?"

"I told him to check this place out half an hour ago. For all we know, he could be inside now fighting for his life. Now let's go."

With that, the quartet, approached the entrance of the club, weapons draw. Giving the signal to hold, Shepard noticed the bounce slumped on the ground, unconscious. Leaning against the wall, he opened the door, the muffled music becoming clear as he peeked inside. He immediately stopped in his tracks.

"What the hell?"

(In Another Place at Another Time):

The vibrations of the club's music hit Naruto as soon as he entered the doorway, the sensation causing bumps to form on his epidermis, a shiver running down his spine. Lost in thought for a moment, the goal soon once again became prevalent in his mind. Approaching the bar in front of him, the blond noticed that people paid no attention to him, either too preoccupied with their drink, conversation, or eying the asari table-dancers.

He still found himself revisiting Nihlus rescuing him in his head, though, and was concerned for the turian. He had nearly been killed twice, was gravely injured, and yet was still up and running, probably on will alone, determined to help him put an end to Saren.

The temporary distraction caused him to be surprised when he realized he had reached the bar, and was being asked something by the guy behind it. Missing it completely, the blond's only response was, "What?"

"I said, 'What can I get you,'. You alright, you seem out of it?"

For a moment, Naruto was confused that he wasn't being told to leave, when it occurred to him that the bouncer was the final authority on turning away people based on age. So, while the bartender probably had an inkling trepidation of him, he also probably realized that he had to be of age to even be allowed in.

"I'm fine," he eventually responded, "I just need something to take my mind off things."

"Coming right up."

What followed was a brief exchange of drink and credits before Naruto turned around, drink in hand as he took a mouthful of it, letting the alcohol burn his throat. While he probably shouldn't have been drinking before an infiltration, he found that it helped calm him, regulating his behavior. That being said, he didn't revel in the effects of the drug often, usually being able to control himself. Also, the military didn't like him drinking, as they didn't want their pet-project killing itself. Still, he enjoyed defying them.

As he turned around, taking another sip, he found himself almost choking on the liquid, the sensation causing tears to form in his eyes. In the corner of the room, sitting alone at a booth, he saw Cole, looking drearily down into his drink, several other glasses already strewn about the table.

So surprised was the blond that for a moment he found himself at a loss for what to do. Should he confront the man directly and risk causing a scene and letting the man get away, or should he sneak up on him, risking startling the enigma and possible putting other patrons in the bar cantina in danger.

Eventually he just swallowed his nerve and, as nonchalantly as he could, slid into the booth across from the man. It didn't take long for Cole to look up, a bored look in his eyes, apparently unsurprised by Naruto's presence, in turn surprising the lieutenant a bit. It took a few moments before the possible loony spoke.

"I can probably guess, but what do you want?" he asked, the question punctuated by the dock-worker taking a gulp of his drink.

For a second, Naruto thought, slightly put-off by the side of Colban he had yet to see until now, before replying, "Why did you run?"

Seemingly unperturbed by his fellow blond side-stepping the question in favour of asking his own, Colban cast the lieutenant a speculative look, saying, "A shot was fired. A lot of people who still have a survival instinct would have ran, and did. I wasn't sticking around."

"Now that's just it, "said Naruto, swirling his drink in his glass idly before taking a sip. "Just how did you get away? Not to boast, but I am a specially trained solider of Humanity's Allied Military. I know how to retain and subdue persons of importance."

"Just what are you implying?"

Colban's eyes were narrowed now as he watched Naruto carefully, putting his glass down fully, one hand inching down to below the table, something that didn't escape the blond. Prepared for anything, Naruto retained his tone of faux ignorant questioning, trying one last gambit to diffuse potential hostilities.

"In short, I don't quite see how a humble and unassuming dock-worker could manage to evade me."

A slight pause, then, from seemingly out of thew blue, Naruto dropped all pretenses.

"I know what it's like, Cole."

"Oh?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're talking about. Please, enlighten me."

"The game's up, Colban. I know you were Spec Ops. I know how you felt, always looking over your shoulder, knowing that there was always a possibility that an enemy would find out and was following you. I know that in ways you hated what your superiors had made you become."

"You know nothing!" Colban growled out, jolting up and slamming both of his palms on the table, shaking both it and the glasses on it, knocking some on the ground. Naruto simply pick his up right before Colban did this, expecting it. Luckily, the music was so loud and the other patrons were so preoccupied with their own affairs that no one noticed them.

Calmly, Naruto rose as well, finishing his drink and setting the glass upside-down on the table before meeting Colban's infuriated gaze.

"I know enough that it wasn't Saren or his lackeys that had you spooked back at the Presidium. It was something from your past. Something you would rather forget, but will always cast a shadow over you until you overcome it."

"You don't understand," Colban replied, looking away and his tone shifting to something else.

"Oh?" asked Naruto, a mocking tint to his voice, as he parroted what had been said to him not a few moments before. "Please, enlighten me."

Unbeknownst to the duo, a small group came in, looking panicked as they began hassling the barkeep. From the shadows of the back of the bar, a heavily armed krogan came to meet the supposed hooligans., wondering why the bouncer had let them in and wasn't stopping them now. He got his answer when he realized they were mercenaries, just like him, hired to protect Fist. Apparently the one called Wrex was on his way there, but the bouncer, their scout, was already knocked unconscious. Had his own scouts been sent ahead to secure the area?

The krogan turned to the bartender. Apparently one of the blonds over in a side-booth to his right was the last one who came in. the two had entered separately. They were by themselves, apparently deeply engaged in their verbal intercourse, one looking impatient and fed-up, the other looking just as fed-up, though more patient, trying to reign the other in. Both were armed.

At the krogan's order, the bar club was quietly evacuated of civilians, more militia coming from the way he originated from, looking as unassuming as the could, armed as they were. For the most part, the two didn't notice.

Until Colban, looking for a way out of this, realized that there was no background noise. "Wait, do you hear that?"

Perplexed, Naruto looked at him for a moment, before listening. All he heard was the rhythmic thumping of the music's bass. "Hear what?"

"Exactly!" was Colban's reply in a hushed whisper. "No conversation! No clinking of glasses! Only music!"

Together, both spared a glance out of the corner of their eyes. People were still there, but not the ones from before. They were not conversing. They were purposely avoiding looking at them. Even the exotic table-dancers were gone. Again, their eyes met.

"What's going on?" Colban had a bad feeling about this, and so did Naruto. Before the latter could answer, though, a voice from eerily close to them spoke, surprising them, though they dared not make any sudden movements, lest they start getting shot at.

"The situation's not good."

Both me turned to the wall, seeing a ventilation shaft grate and the visage of a dark-skinned turian staring back out at them. Colban's eyes lit up, recognizing him as the turian he saw get shot back on Eden Prime, though didn't say anything. Naruto did, though.

"Nihlus, what's going on?"

The turian agent turned to him, no signs of anger or irritation on his face, just... disappointment. "Because you didn't confront fist earlier, it is safe to say that they have wizened up o your presence. I don't know how, but we've lost the element of surprise. It looks like you found help, though."

"Wait, you're taking down Fist?" Colban made sure to keep his voice down, not wanting to give up the game. He was met with a nod. "Why?"

"Well, since you refused to testify, and can't face your past..." Naruto left the comment hanging, allowing Cole to put the pieces together rather easily. It didn't take a genius.

For a second, all was quiet, as Colban ran the situation through his head. Just when it seemed as it would be left to Naruto and Nihlus, a look of resignation came over his face.

"Fine, I guess it's the least I can do. Not like they would let me just waltz my way out of here anyway."

"Right then." Naruto turned to Nihlus and then issued him directives, despite the fact that he wasn't the superior officer. "Get to Fist's office and try to neutralize any defenses. If they start to overwhelm you, fall back."

the turian accept the instructions, and simultaneously, both Naruto and Colban drew their pistols, the former flipping their table over for cover, and opened fire on the guards.

(Back with Shepard):

Suffice to say, in the eyes of the ragtag crew, it appeared as if a natural disaster had occurred within the confines of Chora's Den. Furniture was flipped over or smashed around the room. Glass was shattered on the floor. Scorch marks marred the walls and floor, be it from the emissions of weapons of the ignition of alcohol released from bottles. And of course, there were the bodies.

Everyone absorbed the image of at least three dozen bodies strewn about the place, all in various manners of disarray. It was obvious the cause of death for some was simply a gun, holes grouped nicely around their chests of face. Others appeared to have been smashed into walls or each other, limbs bent at unnatural angles, backs arched painfully, skulls collapsed with brain matter oozing out.

It was also apparent that some had been horribly burnt, signified both by the ghastly scent of singed flesh and the smoldering patches on the victims of, what they assumed was, the one man army named Naruto.

As the crew maneuvered around the throngs of the dead, some couldn't help but question the situation. "One of yours, Shepard?"

The man turned to Wrex, the one who had spoke, and gave an affirmative. "My Lieutenant. I knew Naruto wasn't one to mess with, but I admittedly never thought him to be capable of this single-handedly."

"Well, he seems like someone I want to meet. If he killed Fist, though, I'll have to pay him back, somehow."

Shepard knew it wouldn't be the good kind of pay back, and couldn't quite get around the almost whimsical nature of the krogan's voice. He pushed it from the forefront of his mind. Though, as they approached what appeared to be Fists office, and he heard what sounded like a struggle and muffled shouts from behind the closed door. Ordering everyone to get behind him, they all readied their weapons as the commander flipped the switch to open the the way in.

(With Naruto and Cole):

Having taken care of the club guard, the blond duo proceeded to what they assumed was Fist's office, making sure to step over the fallen bodies of their enemies.

"You weren't too bad back there," said Cole idly, causing Naruto to glance at him.

"This coming from a dock-worker? Then again, you did pretty well, almost as if you had practice."

Naruto finished, the hinting tone not even close to being subtle, along with the connotations. Then again, he had explicitly said what he had thought about the matter earlier. In any event, it got Cole to stop talking as they entered the office.

Inside, they saw Nihlus, patiently standing beside a man they assumed was Fist, the latter cuffed to a chair as the former spared a glance at them before nodding his head in greeting. And enraged look coming over his face, Fist began shouting at them, not amusing the two newcomers in the slightest as the door closed behind them.

"You fuckhead! What the hell do you want? Damn psychos! This is against the law! I'll have you all thrown in jail for the rest of your lives! Do you know who I am? I'll fucking destroy you and your families! You fucking lay a single finger on me and..."

Fist was cut off at that point, courtesy of a backhand from Colban, who was evidently fed up the shouting. "Shut the fuck up. Your men are dead, you're all alone, and now were gonna' torture you, so save your breath."

Those words carried the gravity of the situation to Fist, who was now quiet, a fearful look in his eyes as he dribbled blood from the hit he just received. It allowed Naruto to have Nihlus give him the rundown on what had happened.

"Any resistance?"

"Besides a few turrets, he was easy to subdue."

"Right," with that, the lieutenant turned to fist, noticing how his eyes darted around the room, unwilling to stay on anyone or anything for more than a few moments. The young blond decided to play off of this by adopting a comforting attitude. "Hey, listen," he began, getting the man's attention, "I'm giving us all the chance to just walk away unharmed and without wasting time. Tell me what you know about Saren, and we'll leave you."

"I-i can't tell you! If he finds out, he'll kill me!"

"And we'll make you wish you were dead if you don't tell us what we want to know."

Naruto was a bit surprised by the turian's hostile tone, but knew he wanted the information to convict Saren of his misdeeds. However, what really caught his attention was Colban rooting around among the disabled turrets. Naruto turned fully towards him as he ripped the siding off one, before reaching into his pocket and producing a thick, heavy set of gloves, reaching into the machine's wiring.

"What are you doing," he asked, catching everyone's attention as his eyes narrowed.

Without looking up from his work, the elder blond replied, "Working on a technique I learned on Earth."

As he said that, he ripped out two large, sparking cables from the wreckage, touching them together as he watched the electricity arc and increase a copious amount. Apparently satisfied, as shown by an appreciative nod to himself, he picked out another, longer piece of cable and ripped it out entirely.

"Okay, bring him over here."

A bit apprehensive, Naruto did as asked anyways, watching as their captive attempted to break free of his bonds, shaking his head wildly, fearful of what fate awaited him.

"Last chance," said Colban menacingly, no emotion showing on his face.

"I told you, I ca- MMMPHHFF!" Fist was silenced as the separate piece of cable was used as a gag, tying it behind his head in a knot that, while Fist himself couldn't undo, his captives could release easily.

"You may want to turn away," said Colban as he sparked the cables once more, approaching Fist whose desperate screams kept getting louder and more frantic, but fell upon deaf ears overall. He could only watch in horror as his mutilatour got closer and closer.

Then, just as he was about to be zapped, the door opened, catching everyone's attention and making them stop whatever they were doing, turning to the source, Nihlus and Naruto drawing their guns. In the door way, all manner of armaments also at the ready, were Shepard and Ashley, along with Garrus, the C-Sec officer and some krogan that no one had ever seen before. Well, Fist had seen him before, and it only caused him to struggle more.

Shepard and his ragtag crew took in the scene, and soon everyone lowered their weapons. The commander really wanted to ask what was going on; why was Nihlus there, was Colban about to torture a man, stuff like that. However, he realized that getting information from Fist was what was most important at the moment, so he chose to keep silent about the other issues and instead, putting up his best face of unshakable calm, with the slight undertone of boredom and the overall seriousness he was well known for.

"This Fist?" he asked Naruto.

"Yes," was the simple, slightly awkward reply.

"I guess you followed up on your leads well. Good work."

He shot a glance at the panicked, tied up man, and then turned back to his lieutenant.

"I suppose he isn't talking."

"No."

Turning to Colban, he simply said, "Give him a jolt."

The demand was followed through with, the live cables being placed on the man's abdomen and chest, and the club owner soon found himself in the worst pain he had ever experienced. Colban then undid the makeshift gag, which did well in masking the man's screams and that he had bitten deeply into, and asked calmly, "Ready to talk?"

"T-the quarian! She's meeting Saren's agents in a few minutes! They'll no doubt kill her and take the data you want! You can still make it if you hurry! It's the maintenance shaft in the Lower Wards!"

Shepard narrowed his eyes at hearing that, and turned to his team, and gave the order, something which they surprisingly all followed, probably just wanting to see this through to the end, "Move out! We need to ensure the quarian's safety!"

And with that everyone rushed out of the room, leaving behind a still-bound Fist. He was relaxed though, heaving a sigh of relief, thinking his ordeal was over. That delusion was quickly crushed under a krogan foot, though, as he heard a deep voice in the doorway. Peeking around the exit was Wrex.

"Hey, Fist, I almost forgot."

The man didn't have time to be afraid, as the mercenary brought up his shotgun and blasted a hole in the bound man's chest. He felt an intense pain, coughing up some blood, before blacking out, dead. A satisfied smirk on his face, Wrex rushed back out after the others.

(With Everyone):

The group of seven rushed towards their goal, all with different thoughts in mind. Some were worried about what would no doubt happen to the quarian if they didn't make it in time. Others were more focused on securing the data, feeling as if its transporters fate was inconsequential. Still, the select few, (read: Wrex) did not give two shits either way, and were just sort of along for the ride., hoping for a fight.

The group, lead by Shepard (naturally) came to a halt, reaching their destination. They were just out of sight of the person in question, as well as the hired help that was slowly approaching the quarian. Without saying a word, Shepard crouched down, drawing his sniper rifle and prompting Garrus to follow suit, whilst directing everyone else to take cover behind protruding walls and crates, all moving silently yet swiftly to be unseen, all with their preferred weaponry drawn, ready for a firefight.

They observed the situation on the commander's orders, waiting for the situation to turn south. It didn't take long.

"Did you bring it?" asked one of the assassins, approaching the quarian. She was hesitant, though, apprehension obvious in her voice.

"Where's Fist? Where's the Shadow Broker?"

Approaching even closer, the leader of the small gang tried to comfort her, caressing the side of her face, slowly moving down to her arm, even if her environmental suit was in the way. "Relax, they'll be here. Where's the evidence?"

It was obvious to everyone that he was coming on to strong, though perhaps it was intentional. In any event, the quarian ended up slapping his taloned hand away, saying in a harsh voice, "Forget it. The deal's off."

The leader looked at her one last time, fixing her with a hard gaze, before backing off. It left the opening for some salarian mercenaries to come out from hiding, guns drawn. The quarian saw them, and, acting fast, sidestepped away from the lead killer-for-hire, throwing something at the salarians as she increased her distance.

The object exploded right in front of them, killing them both as two more came out from hiding. Shepard chose that moment to intervene, picking off one salarian quickly and letting Garrus have the other, before aiming directly at the lead assassin, who, as he turned around, weapon have drawn, was revealed to be a turian. Naruto recognized that it looked like the ones that had tried to kill him earlier.

The turian could see that he had no chance, having two snipers focused on him, along with five others handling shotguns, assault rifles, or pistols, who had just come out of cover. Along with that, the quarian had also drawn a sidearm that was trained on him. However, he still had his weapon as he began inching it out of the holster again.

Shepard saw him, though. "Drop it," he called in a harsh voice, no emotion coming through. The turian hesitated, but he knew what would happen if he just gave up. Instead, he went for the quick-draw, turning to aim for the quarian. He was stopped by a series of loud bangs as everyone opened fire on him, ripping holes through both his shields and body, before he fell to the ground, dead.

Satisfied with his work, Shepard approached the quarian, everyone choosing to follow behind him. Exasperated, the quarian turned to him, yelling, "I knew it! Fist betrayed me!"

The commander attempted to calm her, assuring her by saying, "Relax, Fist has been taken care of and you're out of immediate danger."

As he said that, he shot a glance at Wrex, who had a triumphant grin on his face.

His words seemed to work, as the quarian quickly calmed down, speaking in her slightly distorted voice, "I-... thank you. You arrived just in time."

"Don't mention it. Now, I don't quite think I caught your name."

"It's Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. You can call me Tali, though."

There was a pause, then she continued, a bit of suspicion in her voice.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are the odds of you just showing up with a squad like you did, and what is your name?"

"My name is Virgil Shepard with the Human Systems Alliance. These are Naruto Uzumaki and Ashley Williams, members of my crew, and some strays we picked up, Garrus Vakarian, Colban Ryznov, Nihlus, and Urdnot Wrex. We are currently looking for evidence to convict Saren for crimes against the council and understand you may be able to assist us."

"Well then, I suppose I have a chance to repay you for saving my life. But not here, though. I want to be someplace out of the way."

"We could go to the ambassador's office. It's save and will give us the chance to show him the evidence," Naruto suggested. And, while Shepard may not have liked how pretentious Udina was, he quickly agreed.

There was a slight hiccup in the plan, though, by means of Nihlus. "I hope you don't mind, but I'll meet you there. I can't exactly just walk through the Citadel and have the chance of being seen. The only reason I followed before is because we moved mostly through back alleys and were moving fast. But I'll still be at your embassy."

Shepard quickly put two and two together. "If you want the details of your death to continue being greatly exaggerated and Saren to keep thinking you're dead, I recommend not showing yourself to Udina. Still, there's bound to be a time he leaves the office, so you can come out then."

"Right."

And with that, he detached a grate from the bottom of a wall, and disappeared once again into the vents. Surprisingly, Colban made no motion to leave, but Shepard would question him when they got there. With that settled, they made there way to the embassy.

(At the Embassy):

As expected, when the group arrived at Udina's office, said ambassador immediately attempted to chew Shepard's ass out regarding the numerous firefights in the wards, particularly the assault on Chora's Den. However, he stopped himself on finally noticing all the strangers, most notably Cole.

"Ah, I see you've found Mr. Ryznov. I'm sure his character is shot, though, and I'm not sure if the council will listen to what he says, but it's worth a shot. Let's get him prepped again."

"I'm not going," said the man, shocking Udina. The ambassador was about to retort, but Shepard cut in.

"As you said, his character is ruined. The council won't believe him. Besides, we've got something better. If you would, Tali."

The quarian nodded and activated her omni-tool. An audio log was played, the voice immediately identified as Saren's. Everyone listened.

"_Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." _

It was then that Anderson, who had been standing quietly in the corner up until that point, came foreward, astonished. "This will amazingly improve our chances! They can't deny that Saren was involved in the attack now. Where did you find that?"

"I was on my Pilgrimage, and had heard ever increasing word of the geth. After they drove my people off of our home planet, they had never traveled beyond the Veil. It intrigued me. I managed to track a patrol to an uncharted world, and waited for one to become separated from its unit. I disabled it and removed its memory core."

"But I thought that the geth fried their memory cores when they died," argued Anderson. Sure, he was glad for the information, but he didn't want to leave any holes in the story the council could exploit.

"The quarians created the geth. If your quick, skilled, and lucky small caches of data can sometimes preserved, as in this instance."

"My question is what this whole 'Conduit' business is about," said Naruto, drawing everyone's attention.

Tali was the one to answer that. "I couldn't tell you, but we may have a clue."

Going back to her interface, the quarian played the audio log again, but this time it kept playing after Saren's voice, revealing a woman with him. _"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers along with it."_

Unbeknownst to everyone, Naruto's body trembled at hearing that, something that was outside his control. He did his best to cover it up, and if anyone noticed, they were more concerned with the matter at hand. It didn't stop him from asking what was on his mind, though.

"I know I have amnesia and all, but now I'm even more confused. What are these 'Reapers', and who's that voice belong to?"

"We can't help you with the voice, Uzumaki," began Udina, before Tali took over.

"According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago."

Upon hearing that, another tremour went through Naruto's body, a smaller one, but one just as disconcerting just as well. Luckily, no one seemed to notice again, as they were listening to Tali. Just as well, since he didn't know why this was happening. Instead, he continued ignoring it and how muddled his head was becoming. He continued listening to the young quarian girl.

"The Reapers apparently hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then they just vanished. At least, that's what the geth believe."

"It's a bit hard to swallow," said Udina, stroking his chin in a thoughtful manner as her looked down, digesting the information. Shepard's brow narrowed, though, having no problems believing that. The vision the beacon had caused, it made sense when put into that context. However, not everyone needed to know that now, let alone the he had visions in the first place.

Instead, he tried to sort out geth involvement with Saren. "So as machines themselves, do the geth think of these Reapers as sort of great deities? If Saren is attempting to bring them back, it would explain why the geth are following him in the first place."

"That actually isn't too far off," said Tali. "However, if Saren does have a way to actually bring them back, it would be... worrying to say the least.

"We may be better off not mentioning these 'Reapers' at all," said Udina warily.

Anderson seemed to agree. "In any event, that file proves Saren is a traitor! We need to present it to the council."

"Right you are. Shepard, if you would accompany me and Anderson to the Presidium. I would also like Uzumaki, Williams, and the C-Sec officer to stay here watch our dockworker friend. The krogan and quarian may do whatever they please."

"But I can help you!" tried to argue tali. She was shot down by Udina, though.

"We can handle this, Ma'am. We thank you for your help."

And with that, the ambassador and captain ushered Shepard out of the office before he or anyone else could argue. When they were gone, Naruto spoke up.

"Stay with us for a moment. When the commander get's back, I'm sure you can plead whatever case you have with him. In any event, he'll give Udina a piece of his mind when they get back."

Tali nodded, and they all took seats around the office, watching idly as Nihlus came out of a vent, having heard everything, and found his own spot to wait.

(End):

So if you have yet to realize, I am not the Acolyte of Truth. I am, however, his cousin that resides in the U.K. This is only the second chapter I've done for him during his absence, and I must say I think I'm easing into it quite nicely. I haven't taken to reading other fanfiction yet, as I prefer the source material to another person's interpretation, but luckily he left behind a set of rather comprehensive notes. So now, being on holiday from the university, I have time to do this. He asked me to update his main three stories at least once, but also stressed that I focus on this, so I'll inevitably update this at least twice more. I would also enjoy feedback. I believe I also managed to cut out my 'Britishisms' from this chapter, so that's good for you American's who read the other update and were annoyed. And I think that's it. So yeah, whenever next time may be. This has been Chuck, signing off.


	10. Regarding the Crew

Chapter 10: Regarding the Crew

"Why are you still here?" Ashley's annoyed voice rung throughout the room, though the comment was clearly directed at Wrex, who shot the human female an impassive glance. "I know you're a mercenary, so I'll tell you now, there is no money to be made here. You're better off going and collecting your bounty for Fist."

"I'll do that soon enough, but for the time being, I want to see where things go with this," Wrex didn't really take Ashley seriously, namely because she wasn't in charge, and because he had dealt with scrutiny due to both his species and profession before. "Besides, as I recall, you're the one who chose to seek me out in the first place."

"That's because we shared a common goal; we both had business with Fist. After you killed him, you could have left."

"And who says we don't have a common goal?" Wrex was just playing with the woman now, seeing how uneasy he made her. "Maybe I want to help you track down Saren and this 'Conduit' he mentioned it the quarian's audio log."

"There's no certainty that we will be chasing after Saren at all, especially since there's a good chance the trial is still in session," interrupted Naruto, finally breaking into the conversation. While it was true he could have stopped the two from arguing at the very beginning, or could have asked Wrex to leave, being the highest ranked human in the embassy, he both felt that it was better for the two to talk out their issues and that it was Udina's decision of who should stay and go.

"Regardless," continued Ashley, "you weren't invited to stay here, so you're better off leaving."

"I also wasn't told to leave. Your ambassador said I could do whatever I liked, including staying or going." Wrex's argument was definitely better than Ashley's, though he didn't leave it there. "And what about the turian? Why aren't you asking him to leave?"

"Garrus was personally requested to stay, unlike you."

Before she could continue that thought, the krogan cut in. "Not the C-Sec officer, the one behind you who crawled in through the vent after your superiors left."

Ashley shot Wrex a look, not quite understanding, before turning around and spotting Nihlus for the first time, nearly falling out of her seat in shock.

"For the record, I did invite Nihlus to stay," Naruto once again broke his silence, once again to clear up matters in the debate.

As Ashley regained her bearings, she registered what the lieutenant said and regarded the stoic turian inquisitively. "Wait, weren't you the one who got shot by Saren on Eden prime?" as she asked that, her face turned to wonder, not quite sure how or why he was there.

In response, he just shrugged and said, "I got better."

"How in the hell do you get better from being shot in the head? It hasn't even been a week!" It was obvious that the woman was displeased with the answer, though whether it was because she truly expected more or was just lashing out at whatever was in her way due to the argument with Wrex remained to be seen. "Come to think of it, where were you during the initial trial? Your testimony would have been a great help and would have saved a lot of trouble for us."

"I move upon necessity. The reason I'm here is because there was an attempt on my life in the hospital. As of now, it is best I remain out of the public eye until everything's settled. And just for your advanced notice, I intend to help apprehend Saren, whether you are fully involved in the operation or not."

"That's enough," Naruto finally decided, feeling as if someone had crossed the line. "With the conversation moving into territory such as the past, I feel that it is fit to say this is a self-defeating purpose in and of itself because it can not change. Also, if Nihlus had testified, it may very well just be considered heresy, especially without corroborating evidence. Coupled with the fact that the take-down of Fist would most likely would have turned out differently, Cole may still be on the loose, and the odds of Tali being in, generally speaking, prime condition like now being lowered, and it most likely better things went the way they did here. Now, with that settled, I highly recommend we all sit patiently and wait for the others to return."

It was obvious to the others that Naruto had some type of problem with dwelling on the past. Maybe it was because he essentially didn't have one of his own, one that he could remember anyway, that didn't have him serving as slave to the military. Even if it was just supposition, the people in the room could figure out that the only reason such a valuable asset for humanity as Naruto was undertaking missions and in some constant form of danger was for field data purposes. Truth was, if misfortune ever befell the blond and made it so he was taken from active duty, the higher-ups would pounce and probably take him to a lab on a remote planet in a generally uninhabited star system to preform experiments on him until he eventually died, and even then keep using his body to unlock the mysteries of his power.

Regardless of what the reason was, everyone decided that it was better to remain silent as requested, even those who had yet to speak and were just letting the argument play out like Naruto had for the most part. However, it didn't do anything to alleviate any of the tension in the room. The stressful environment made it seem as if time had slowed to a pitiful crawl, though none felt the inclination to start up a casual conversation that may have made the time in the office less miserable, fearing that another pitiful argument may start and make everyone more miserable. It didn't explain why they remained either in their chairs, against the wall, or standing in their place with no movement except for exploring the room with their eyes.

That is to say, until they all jumped at the sound of a loud bang on the wall outside, prompting a few people to draw weapons and point them at the door, which opened to reveal a positively livid Shepard. Colban, Wrex, and Nihlus holstered their guns as the man stormed into the room, a deep scowl on his face as he slammed a fist into the door's control panel, resulting in another bang as the door slid shut behind him. All parties watched as he stormed over to the office's balcony and leaned heavily on the railing, seemingly shutting out the world around him as he looked down angrily at the people going about their day on the Citadel.

A bit hesitantly,, Tali leaned over to Naruto, who was sitting on the couch next to her, and lowly whispered, "Is your commander always like this?", though everyone could hear, due to how quiet it was.

"No," was the blond's reply. For the, admittedly short, time he had known the man, not much emotion had been shown, especially not as strongly as now. Watching as Shepard seethed in his own little bubble, Naruto said, "He tends to mask what he feels. Something must be really wrong to get him this pissed."

A few more moments of silence asked, before Cole decided to be the group's voice, being the least effected. "I assume the retrial didn't go well," he said, ignoring how the comment sounded coming from him and the small glares sent at him from Ashley and Naruto.

"Trial went fine," was Shepard's gruff response. "The crew of the Normandy is now charged with the apprehension of Saren. Of course, the Reapers came up. Council didn't believe it, but that's to be expected. Overall, they were pleased. In fact, I got a promotion. I'm a Spectre now."

"What?" asked Naruto, shocked, as was everyone else who had heard him, knowing how prestigious the position was, that it was an honor to be nominated. "But, Commander, that's amazing! Why the hell are you so pissed?"

The man was about to answer, when the door once again opened and Udina jogged into his office, Anderson right behind him, the former looking peeved and the latter a bit worried as he tried to stop the ambassador. Udina would have none of it though, and quickly identified where Shepard was and stomped towards him, the commander turning fully to face him. "Shepard, your conduct back there was far from acceptable! You would do best to mind your superiors!"

"Screw you! You had absolutely no fucking right to do what you did!" he replied in a severe tone. Those who had not attended to trial were left to wonder what exactly caused this dispute.

"Watch your mouth you ingrate!" Udina barked back, getting up in the taller man's face. "I had every right for my decision and the executive power to ensure the action is carried out! You should be more grateful that I entrusted you with such a responsibility, even though it's blatantly obvious that you don't deserve my charity!"

"Oh, I should be grateful that you stripped a man of his position and pawned it off on someone else so you could appear to be acting on behalf of the goddamn council? In that case, thank you so fucking much for your pitiful act to increase you own political standing!"

"Why you...!" started Udina, harshly pushing Shepard's chest in an attempt to get him to stumble back. The man didn't budge. "Was everyone from Mindoir like you? Is that why the bartarians killed almost all of them?"

Pure, unadulterated rage flashed across Shepard's face as he grabbed Udina by the neck, causing the man to gasp and gurgle, trying to get another breath of air, eyes widening in fear as the commander raised a fist to strike. At that moment, everyone in the room jumped into action.

Both Wrex and Colban grabbed Shepard's shoulder's as they pulled him back, Ashley and Nihlus working to detach his hand from the ambassador's throat and Garrus held his fist back, Naruto standing in front of the raving man and pushing him back as Anderson held Udina back once he was free and wanting retaliation, Tali blocking his path like Naruto was the commander's.

"You don't fucking talk about Mindoir, you sack of shit!" the commander yelled as he struggled fiercely against the people restraining him. At that point, everyone was glad that Shepard had no biotic potential (meaning no implants) whatsoever and was thusly a containable threat to an extent.

Before Udina opened his mouth again, Anderson decided to speak, temporarily causing Shepard to stop resisting. "Listen Shepard, I normally don't agree with Udina, but in this instance, he's right. I'm getting on in years, and there's too much old blood between me and Saren. To catch him, we need someone with a level head on their shoulders; someone like you. Right now, this isn't you, this is something you usually keep hidden until needed. You earned the rank of Spectre for a reason, and I expect you to do well now with the Normandy at your complete command. You deserve this."

Hearing what the captain said, Shepard's features immediately softened back into his stoic gaze as he stopped struggling, prompting everyone to release him and back away a bit, still on guard. For a moment he just glared at Udina, the man still struggling against Anderson and shouting obscenities, Tali having backed off at seeing Anderson controlling the situation, before shaking his head, coming to see it wasn't worth it, and addressing the room, saying, "Those who're coming with me, let's go," before marching out through the door, not looking back even once as most everyone followed him, leaving only Anderson and Udina behind.

(On the SSV Normandy):

Gathered in the communication's room were the people Shepard had dubbed the ground team; they were the people who were on call to conduct in ground operations with the commander. Basically, everyone who had been on the Citadel that the team had picked up. The ship was still moored on the station, as before they set off, Shepard wanted to make sure that the newcomers had both the ability and the drive to undertake this assignment.

In the middle of the room stood Shepard, fixing everyone in front of him with a critical gaze, letting them know he meant business as the all straightened up. Ashley and Naruto were situated close behind him, as he knew they were both fit for duty, having seen them in action. The others, however, were positioned in a small elliptical formation in front of him.

As he spoke, his words came out stern, just another indication of how serious he felt this matter was, though there was also a tinge of harshness, no doubt a remnant from his recent exchange from Udina, "I'll be frank. I don't know you, and I may not necessarily like you, but I do give a damn about you if you're going to be serving as a member of this ship's crew. That being said, I want to know why you're willing to risk harm to take down a megalomaniac like Saren. Garrus, you first," he said, looking at the turian at one end of the line.

"I think that's quite obvious. Saren is a menace to the entire galaxy, someone who has harmed innocents before and will no doubt do so again. This can not go unpunished, and the way I see it, I would be no better than that scum-bag if I didn't at least try to take a shot at him, not to mention whatever underlings he has working for him."

"And your superiors at C-Sec are okay with this?"

"That bridge will be burned when I come to it, Shepard," replied Garrus, almost as if he didn't care what the people above him thought. "If we succeed, they'll probably take me back, if we fail, we'll probably die. It really is hit or miss."

"Right," Shepard seemed pleased with the answer. "Now you, Tali if I remember correctly. You seem pretty young to be undertaking a mission like this."

"Thanks for the concern, but I can handle myself just fine. As for my purpose, the connection between the geth and Saren is strong. Undoubtedly we will be facing them at one point or another, and it will give me a chance to collect new and more relevant data on them for my Pilgrimage, benefiting my race as a whole."

It appeared that he wished to question the woman more, but moved on regardless. "Nihlus?"

"As a Spectre it is my duty to aid you in the apprehension of a traitor. Added to the fact that he tried to kill me not once, but twice, not even bothering to do the job himself the second time. In short, he made this personal, and I intend to see him pay," the turian said, stifling a cough at the end, causing Shepard to raise an eyebrow.

"Are you sure you're fit for duty?"

"Aside from a slight headache and cough, I'm fine."

The lie was transparent to everyone in the room, but nobody was able to call him out on it, as Shepard wanted to continue. "Wrex? Surely a big and powerful krogan mercenary has better things to do with his time."

"Spare me the sarcasm, Shepard. I may respect you from what I've seen so far, but it doesn't mean I like you. I'm only here because the council is incompetent and pompous, and need to be sure that you don't serve as a scapegoat if this does fail. Also, when we succeed, the krogans will regain much of their respect from the other races."

"Fair enough," he said, his gaze turning to the final person in the line-up and disdain showing on his features. "Finally, you, Colban. You truly are a piece of work. You've already abandoned us once; what's to say you won't do so again, costing someone their life? Combined with being unreliable, your still under the pretense of being a simple dock-worker, and thus no combat experience to speak of. The last thing we need is a liability to get in the way. You have one chance to sway me into letting you aboard."

For a moment, Cole was silent, just staring Shepard in the eye, unflinching. Finally, the man just shrugged. "My life beyond being a dock-worker is not a thing that needs to be made known to everyone, especially to those I don't trust. Rest assured, I do have combat expertise and can hold my own in a firefight and in close range; just ask your lieutenant. As for my purpose, Saren already tried to take my life. I don't know how important I am to him now that he no longer has any political backing, but I'm sure if he still perceives me as an obstacle, he will end my life. Better to take him out than the other way around. If I am to die, it's better I do so fighting back. In the end, it's your decision though. I couldn't care less if I'm working with you or not, but if you do leave me here, I'll just find the places that need to be hit to stop Saren on my own and book passage on another ship."

What followed was a tense silence, Shepard's face void of any emotion. Finally, he turned to the intercom in the office and spoke, an audible echo sounding from just outside the room. "Joker, warm up the engines. We leave in two."

"_Aye, aye, commander," _was the pilot's snarky response before the intercom went dead.

Turning back to his new crew, Shepard continued by saying, "I'll leave you all to relax and explore the ship if you so wish. Get to know each other and the other crew. I intend to follow up my evaluations in a bit, so be prepared. We reach our destination in three days, and I'll brief you once we get closer. Dismissed."

With that, everyone filed out of the room to do just as suggested by their new commander.

However, as Ashley and Naruto began to walk by Shepard, the man spoke up once again, saying, "Not you two. You stay."

It caused a few glances from the few still in the room, but they soon left regardless.

Once the door was closed, Shepard waited a few moments before turning to the one's he saw as his more trusted soldiers, ire visible on his face. "Williams, is there something you want to tell me?"

By the tone he was using, the two knew that Shepard was using his authority over them to get an answer. Of course, Ashley didn't know what he was probing at, and thus was reduced to stuttering, her surprise evident, "I-I'm sorry, Sir, but I don't know what you're referring to."

"It's just that I want to know if you hate just Wrex, or is it all krogans. Or is it the mercenary part you find unflattering? Or do you just not like members of different species?"

"You know about the argument we had?" asked Ashley, shocked looks crossing both her's and Naruto's faces. When the hell did he have time to get informed about it? They hadn't left his side, nor heard anyone announce their concerns on the matter.

The commander just shook his head. "I didn't say that, did I? But thanks for being the first to tell me."

"But then, how...?"

"The hostility you directed at him ever since we left the embassy is palpable. Don't think I can't sense how dysfunctional a team is. I find your behaviour on the matter rather disconcerting. So, out with it; what's the problem?"

"Sir, understand, it's just that... this is a big task we're undertaking, and I don't feel comfortable working with people with loyalties not placed within the crew's best interest. I mean, the council wants us to stop Saren, whatever the cost, and while Wrex said he wants to stop him, he sells his loyalty to the highest bidder."

"So is it just him you have reservations about?" Shepard had become decidedly more calm as the conversation wore on, creating a more inviting environment for Ashley to answer questions.

"Truthfully, I find fatal faults with all the new help we've brought on board that could jeopardize the mission."

Ashley waited for a verbal reply to continue, but went on at the commander's probing look.

"As you said before, or implied at the very least, Colban is a spineless rat who abandoned us earlier and made our lives just that much harder. It will be difficult to trust my or the crew's well-being to him out on the field of battle. Tali, on the other hand, seems to be all there and is brave enough, but she's still very young and probably inexperienced. The fact that she's also doing this for information on the geth means that she could become distracted in battle in the pursuit of preserving intelligence or simply abandon us as soon as she gets what she wants, though I see that behaviour less likely to come from her than Colban. Then there's Garrus, who I personally believe is the most trust worthy, who wants to stop Saren and make him answer for his crimes of conspiring against the council, the leading an assault on an alliance colony, and the attempted murder of a Spectre. Of course, being a turian, he may still feel there's bad blood between his race and humans due to the First Contact, and though I don't foresee him acting out some form of vendetta, he seems a little too concerned with the reputation of the turians and enacting vengeance on Saren for tarnishing it. Finally, while Nihlus is a Spectre and serves the Council dutifully, I suspect he only came with us to see that his own ends are met, and that it's only a bonus that Saren is sanctioned to be hunted down."

As Ashley finished stating her thoughts on the crew, Shepard remained silent, assimilating all of what he had just heard said. After a few moments, he finally said, "Thank you for your appraisal of the crew, Ashley. I will take what you said into consideration when selecting ground teams. You may leave."

The woman nodded, giving a formal salute before leaving. As the door slid shut behind her, the commander turned to Naruto.

And how would you rate her analysis, Lieutenant?"

"I guess I can understand her worries, and her cynicism did yield a relatively accurate outline of what they may be like."

"But..." Shepard supplied, suspecting more and aiding Naruto in moving on.

"But I don't think they will actually act out in the negative way Ashley described they might. We need all the help we can get for this mission, and I think we need to trust them."

"I see. Now, concerning Colban, I want to know the extent of his combat prowess. From what I understand, you're the only one who's seen him in action so far. I only ask because his attitude seems to have flipped and he is now more more annoying and arrogant than I could have imagined. Seeing as I have no compunction against blasting him out the airlock, any redeeming qualities you describe could mean the difference between his cruel death, his slow and lonely death on an uninhabited planet we abandon him on, and just dropping him off on some civilised planet and letting him find his own way back."

"Rest assured, Shepard, in combat, Colban is ruthless and efficient, using the environment and even his enemies' movements to his advantage."

"I'll take your word for it... at the moment. In the mean time, though, I want you to socialise with the crew; get them to open up to you. I want to know the things they might not want me to and wouldn't say to me directly. Can I be confident in your ability to help me?"

"Of course," said the blond, understanding Shepard's reasoning and thinking it would help him better interact with the crew.

"In that case, I leave this assignment in you hands. I want daily reports. Good luck."

With that, Shepard turned his back on Naruto, prompting the blond to exit and find his first target.

(On the Lower Level):

After a long, uneventful lift ride, Naruto came out on the lower levels of the ship, thankful that he had finally gotten out of the inefficient device. In all seriousness, how could they have the technology to travel at speed faster then light, yet remain with the and obsolete elevator that took five minutes to go down twenty feet? Especially in such an advanced ship? Who designed the ship without stairs, anyway? Needless to say, the blond couldn't exit the accursed thing fast enough.

Once he was off, the blond took stock of his surroundings. Miscellaneous crew members were milling about, mostly non-essential personnel and those who were off duty, though, as the lower level consisted of the crew quarters and mess. However, Naruto didn't immediately spot the people he was supposed to be probing for their secret thoughts. Knowing they were down here and with little alternative, the lieutenant went deeper into the back of the ship.

What met him was a large, open space; it was the cargo bay, for lack of a better term. In truth, however, it was more than that. It was also where all the people he was to talk to were located. Off to the left were Ashley, who was checking everyone's weaponry and just doing general maintenance to kill time, Wrex, leaning up against the wall next to the weapons lockers, looking as if he were reminiscing about something, and Cole, who was doing general exercises off in the corner.

To the right was Garrus, reading a report (on which Naruto could only guess), as he leaned up against a giant vehicle. _'The Mako,'_ Naruto idly thought, a grin coming to his face. Chiefly, it was for exploration on potential hostile planets, as shown by its thick, metal plating, adding quite a bit of bulk to the craft. That wasn't to say it was necessarily slow, though, as it had thrusters on the back of it to boost its speed, and on its underside to give it lift should the need arise. It sported three axles, each with independent suspension and two thick, heavy wheels on either one, one axle set closer to the nose of the vehicle and the other two set closer to the back. The profile of the body was actually rather streamline, even with the bulk, the front (and only) porthole covering part of the angular front and going a ways to the side, continuing downwards to even under where the operators of the vehicle sat. mounted on top was a giant canon that had machine-gun attachment on either side of it, and access to 360 degree rotation, all to help deal with potentially hostile fauna and whatnot. Truly, Naruto couldn't wait to have a go in the thing, just the tiniest excuse to test it out, a desire he had since he first set sights on the thing. _'The alliance really went all out on this.'_ he would know, having spent most of his time on the ship studying it.

Shaking his head, Naruto banished the desire to test the vehicle. He noticed that neither Tali nor Nihlus were in the area, and would question their whereabouts later. Instead, he decided to start conversing with now, beginning with his fellow Alliance solider. "Hey, Ash," he called to her, prompting her to look up and drop what she was doing and look a, a confused look on her face.

"Lieutenant?" the woman asked, a bit uncomfortable. Something Naruto caught right away.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing, just... I guess I'm not used to seeing you act so informal."

"All I did was call you 'Ash'," was Naruto's reply, raising an eyebrow.

"Even so, you're usually just so formal. I'm over it now. In any event, why are you down here?"

"Decided to act on the Commander's advice and get to know people better. Doesn't look like anyone else decided to take initiative, after all," as he said this, the blond swept his arm across the room, emphasising that everyone was preoccupying themselves with their own little activities and generally ignoring each other.

"It just means I'm not the only one distrustful of everyone else here."

"Come now; are you saying you don't trust _anyone _here?"

"Fine, I worded that wrong. The only one's I trust my well-being to, probably along with everyone else, are you and Shepard, mainly do to your skill, rank, loyalties, and what I know of your personalities so far," Ashley relented.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well, you're both prominent members of the Alliance, unlikely to turn your backs on them for various reasons, and both of you are gifted, meaning you can protect us should the need arise... not that anyone here would want to be a burden and need the protection, but it's nice to have reassurance. Also, you're not so highly ranked that you'll get caught up balls deep in some governmental conspiracy, so that's comforting."

"And what makes you think you can trust Shepard with your life? In his career, he's sent hundreds, maybe thousands to their deaths just to achieve an objective. What makes you think most of this crew won't be turned into fodder?"

"First of all, while I may not agree with all of his methods, what Shepard did was to ensure the safety of countless more lives than those that were lost. You also have to respect a man with such conviction, willing to see a mission through to the end. Also, we have very few personnel as it is; not even have of us are combat oriented, so to speak. Our lives won't be wasted, and seeing as it is doubtful we will get into and space battles, only the ground team will ever really be in any danger, all of whom can handle themselves. I'm not saying the road ahead isn't hard, but despite my distrust, I have faith that most everyone will fulfill their duties to their fullest."

"Speaking of Shepard's earlier days, why do you think Shepard slaughtered those surrendering bartarians?" asked Naruto, generally curious on the woman's thoughts. She was definitely more complex than he had initially given her credit for, and actually thought quite a few things through.

"I think that's simple. Back then and even now, bartarians deal heavily in slavery and pillaging, something really no one allied with Citadel space condones, unless dealing with spoils of war, and even there it depends on the discretion of the generals. However, for Shepard, it goes deeper than simply despising their practices. They slaughtered his family and basically everyone he ever knew. Remember, he was still young when he commanded that operation, enough time for his hatred to fester into something nasty, something that caused him to really loose it when a few bartarians asked for mercy, something he probably saw as arrogant, insulting even. Truthfully, I believe he was a bit of a racist back then, but has since grown out of it. I'm not sure. But I don't think Shepard would ever do something like that again unless it was somehow needed."

"So he may still be a selective xenophobe," surmised Naruto, earning a shrug. "And what of you?"

As the question left Naruto's mouth, a glare immediately lit up on Ashley's face. "Let's get one thing straight, Uzumaki. I may not trust the people Shepard brought aboard, but that doesn't mean I hate them. In fact, Cole's the one who's the closest to earning my hatred, but since he's human, the point is invalid. Hell, most of the distrust stems from the fact that I've almost never been out of a garrisoned unit and I don't have much experience with other races. Do not think I'm an ignorant bigot just because I refuse to act as you would. And for the record, I never said Shepard was a xenophobe. Maybe all the accusations are just you deflecting how you really feel. Maybe deep down, you're the one who hates other species. I don't know, nor do I care, but I do know that this conversation is over." and with that, Ashley turned her back on him and went back to her work.

The blond just stared at her back for a moment before shrugging and walking off, not even giving a moment to contemplate what she had said about him. He knew it wasn't true and he also knew they both knew that Ashley was grasping at straws with her last comments. Therefore, it didn't really bother him. Regardless, he had learned something, and he would question her again when she cooled down about things he was still wondering about.

In the mean time, though, Naruto moved on to his next person of interest: Wrex. The krogan turned his head to the blond, even before he was near him, perhaps hearing the footsteps. "Uzumaki," he grunted out, nodding at his presence. "I'm next, huh?"

"What do you mean?" asked the blond, trying to feign ignorance but also genuinely confused. Did he know that he was going around talking to everyone.

"Don't take me for a fool, kid. Being aware comes with the life style of a mercenary. At least, it does with the good ones. I heard the conversation you had with the Sergeant over there. She raised some good points, mainly the distrust concept. In most situations, you can't trust strangers. Hell, I never trust my employers either, namely because I know they'll sometimes try to go back on their deal and do away with me once I've obligated my side of the contract."

"Sounds like you've had plenty of experiences with that happening."

"I do, but I've come to develop a sense of knowing when it will happen after meeting an employer. A certain gut feeling. Know what I do in those situations? I alert the target and then convince them to hire me."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"Trust me, I make it work."

Naruto was really interested by now, wanting to know more about Wrex's history, if for nothing else but to be entertained for a while. However, in the back of his head, he also had this nagging feeling. "Say, why were you so adamant about coming aboard anyway? I know you said it was to ensure the job got done, but there needs to be some other reason. I mean, you probably could have found some grieving person who had family on Eden Prime to pay you to track Saren down, so why do this for no pay?"

For a moment, Wrex was silent, a contemplative look washing across his face as he averted his gaze from the blond a bit, obviously deliberating on whether or not he should tell Naruto something. Finally, he said, "Would it surprise you to know I worked for Saren once?"

"Care to repeat that?" asked Naruto, immediately tensing up as he registered what was said but relaxing again as he worked out that Wrex probably wasn't still working for the psychopath. If he was, why did he help secure the data that ultimately proved the turian's involvement in Eden Prime? No, it was doubtful Wrex was some type of spy, but still, Naruto wanted to hear this story.

"It was a few years ago," said Wrex, adopting a wistful look as he retold his days as a mercenary to Naruto, "and back then, I still operated with the aid of a group, undertaking larger contracts, jobs where we were the assault force, unlike the more defensive or preventive oriented tasks that come with solo work. In any event, I received word of a job to knock over a cargo ship. Seemed rather routine, but what really got me was the substantial pay that would be received. At the time, I just figured it represented the mission difficulty. I accepted, met the others I would be working with, was briefed on the specifics of the job, but most importantly, I was introduced to Saren."

"I take it you didn't like him."

"Truthfully he wasn't that bad. He was very colloquial with us, did a good job with saying what the job entailed without saying what exactly we were procuring for him, and was of course paying us quite a bit. All that aside, I still felt something was off about him back then. It may have been his fake smiles, his cold eyes, any number of his mannerisms that brought me to second-guess accepting the mission. I decided to stick out for a little longer. The mission was nothing special, though that was the problem. The pay didn't add up to the sub-par opposition. I ended up leaving right away, not even bothering to get paid. And wouldn't you know, I later found out that everyone else who was on that mission ended up dead."

"So, what, you want some kind of vengeance on Saren?"

"No, Uzumaki. Vengeance for something that petty is for the weak and leads to their inevitable downfall. The point is that I've known that Saren is dangerous for a while now, but after what happened on the Citadel, I now know to a better extent. He will truly be a challenging adversary, and that is that only reason I want to fight him. If one does not constantly challenge themselves, they will grow weak. If there is one thing you take away form this conversation, let it be that."

"I will," replied the blond, and, sensing that there was nothing more to be said between the two at the moment, he moved on to the next person in his line-up.

As he approached Colban, he received a grunt of acknowledgment, but nothing more as the elder blond went on with his exercises. The blatant action of disrespect slightly perturbed Naruto, but he didn't say anything, instead choosing to just stare down at him, watching, making Cole acknowledge him before speaking. Sure, Naruto had secured his stay on the ship for a while, but he needed the man to know he wasn't the one in charge.

It soon became apparent that Naruto's statuesque presence wore on Colban's nerves, shown by him growling before finally giving up on his exercises and getting off the floor, turning to him with a scowl on his face. "Is there a problem, or do you just enjoy pissing guy's off?"

"Someone's a bit touchy," was Naruto's reply as he shrugged the reaction off. "Is it because I'm here specifically, or do you just hate people observing you?"

"That's none of your goddamn business!" Colban hissed, prompting Naruto to lean more towards the latter reason.

"Look, whatever the problem is, I came to inform you to watch yourself. Shepard isn't far off from just ditching you on some hostile planet, and that's only because I convinced him not to blast you out the air-lock because you have worth. You're treading on thin ice."

"I didn't ask for your help, so don't think I own you," Colban said, his scowl still in place. "And if Shepard has a problem, tell him to confront me himself. If that's it, leave."

The man started to turn, but Naruto stopped him. "There's something else I need to talk to you about."

"Wonderful," Colban quipped sarcastically, adding an eye roll. "Get on with it. The sooner you piss off, the better."

"I need to know where you came from."

"Pardon?" asked Colban, a dangerous look coming to his eye, something which Naruto chose to disregard, instead continuing on with his question.

"You're running from something, that much I know. Eden Prime was the perfect hiding place for a while, barely seeing any visitors, but that changed when Saren got involved, and we found you."

Colban remained silent prompting Naruto to carry on with his theory.

"We attempted to get you to testify, and while the sniper gave you the perfect opportunity to split, I could tell that you were going to make a break for it at some point. Why, I don't know for sure, but I notice you trying to duck down at the time, hiding your face from cameras. That's when I first began developing the idea you were in hiding. You didn't want your face to be recognised. But with all the media coverage, you were bound to be seen. Whoever is looking for you thinks you ditched us, which is why you so readily joined us when I found you. I've also figured out that your training has something to do with who's chasing you. So, what's the story?"

Cole just stared at Naruto blankly for a moment, before starting to chuckle. "That's quite the notion you have there. In truth, I never expected such a sophisticated thought process from you, let alone that kind of detective work. I still don't see how my origin has anything to do with you."

"As previously stated, I helped secure your place here for a while, but if people are after you, I need to know if I placed the crew in danger. I need to be prepared for any threat and have Shepard also prepare."

"I still don't know you enough to tell you the whole story," said Cole looking away, a reminiscent look in his eye and a smirk on his face, "but you've impressed me with what you've managed to figure out on your own. In regards to that, I will tell you that you pretty much got it right. My past profession has landed me in trouble with a few people, and I've been on the run for a few years now. Keep impressing me and I'll enlighten you to the full story. And while it's doubtful they will find me, it wouldn't hurt to keep on your toes."

With that, Colban turned away from Naruto completely and went back to what he was doing before, causing the latter to roll his eyes and contemplate about how full of himself the former was, moving on to speak to Garrus.

"So, how are you settling in?" asked Naruto on his approach, weariness in his voice from dealing with the others. The turian took notice of this.

"Better than most, if your state after talking to the others is anything to go by."

Naruto chuckled at that, saying, "Fair enough," as he inspected the turian closer. Garrus had turned back to his data pad, skimming through the data displayed upon it and piquing the blond's interest with the constant flicking of his mandibles. "Seems I'm not that only one getting stressed about something. What are you reading?"

"A report on an alleged terrorist organisation. From what it says here they have massive amounts of funding from who knows where and are pouring more into recruitment and armaments, almost like they're preparing to defend a base or something, even though no one knows where they are located, let alone much about them in general."

"They're forces could be to launch an attack of their own," suggested Naruto, getting a shrug from Garrus."What is known about the group, though? What makes them terrorists?"

"We know that they call themselves 'Cerberus', and are a self-described pro-humanity organisation. That doesn't exactly mean they're anti-everyone else though, considering they haven't taken any action against any other species. More like they want to ensure the interests of humanity. As for what singles them out as a terrorist group... they focus mainly on research and development, most if not all of which is unsanctioned by the council, not to mention unethical. Human test subjects (granted, most are probably voluntary), A.I. development, heavy genetic engineering leading us to believe they're trying to create a new species or resurrect and extinct one. I've even heard rumours that they may have formed a biotic facility two decades back that had highly con traversal practices. Of course, no evidence can be found of that, since we don't even know if the facility exists, only testimony from families claiming to have had children with promising biotic potential taken years ago, only to never be seen again. The 'recruiters' all wore the same emblem; it is the same one that the Cerberus of today sports."

"Two decades?" asked an incredulous Naruto. "Just how long have they been around?"

"We don't know," Garrus admitted. "C-Sec just recently decrypted some old data streams and gained some of this newer information. Again, a lot of this is compiled from rumours, though. Truthfully, one could easily say they don't even exist, but I've been around long enough to know what are just scare tactics created by some higher up to keep men on their toes or perhaps fulfill some ulterior motive of the government, and what conspiracy actually has merit. You can't just write-off those disappearances."

"But you don't perceive them as a threat?" asked Naruto, causing Garrus to look at him.

"As of yet, I don't see them as a threat, but that could easily change. Who knows what lengths they'll go to in order to ensure humanity gets what they think it deserves."

"Good point," conceded Naruto. "Anyway, have you seen Tali or Nihlus? I need to check on them as well."

"I believe Tali has settled in the engineering department. As for Nihlus, I saw him clutching his head and staggering into the lift. Considering you didn't see him passed out on the floor, I assume he's resting in the med-bay."

"Right. Thanks," said Naruto as he left Garrus to himself once again. He figured he'd meet up with Tali first since she was on the same level. It didn't take long to make it to his destination, getting a view of the ship's shimmering mass effect drive, then spotting Tali, her back turned to him as she worked on a console like many of the other workers, no doubt studying the ship with intrigue.

He came up behind her, making his presence known beforehand so as not to startle the girl.

"Hey, Tali," the blond called out, causing the person in question and a few other personnel in the room to turn to him, the latter soon going back to work.

"Lieutenant, Sir, how can I help you?" she asked, sounding almost as if slightly panicked at his presence, perhaps thinking he was there to reprimand her for something.

"Relax, I just wanted to check in on you: to see if you were having any trouble." Naruto gave an internal chuckle at her behaviour as he calmed her. "And you don't have to be so formal."

"Oh, in that case, thank you for your concern. I'm adjusting just fine, and everyone so far has been very nice. It's just..." tali stopped herself, apparently thinking that her complaint didn't have merit.

"Yes?" prodded Naruto, wanting to hear what she had to say regardless.

"I'm just surprised by how quietly the ship runs, and a little anxious, too. The Flotilla usually operates with an immense amount of sound accompanying it. However, it also means that everything is working. If something goes silent,it almost always means something has gone wrong and a component has broken down. Whether that something has to do with the life support, engines, communications, or something else, we can't know until it is fixed. As you can imagine, it causes a great deal of unease."

"Wow, life sounds hard for your people," said Naruto, sympathizing. "But as I'm sure you know, this is a state-of-the-art stealth-craft. Everything works just fine, even if it lacks the sounds you're used to."

"Thank you," was Tali's response. Naruto just nodded, and turned to leave, but said one last thing before walking away.

"Oh, and if the Commander comes down to talk to you, don't worry about it. He probably just wants to be sure you're adapting as well."

With that, Naruto made a quick, trek to the lift, ready to go back to the upper level and meet with Nihlus. Along the way, he sort of realised that he didn't really achieve what he was assigned to do, which was uncover everyone's secret feelings. However, given that everyone was still tense and had just met, and that Shepard was a reasonable man, Naruto considered the orders standing and with no real deadline.

As he pressed the button and the doors to the lift slid shut, the blond prepared for a long, boring ride up. However, the expected monotony was broken when the speaker crackled to life above him, causing him to look up as Shepard's voice came through.

"_Attention everyone. This is Commander Shepard. If you have not already heard, I have been charged as Captain Anderson's replacement for the remainder of the foreseeable future. There's nothing wrong with him, he's just a victim of the incompetence and corruption of the political system. This incompetence is also what leads us our current mission, as the council was blind to see the treachery going on right in front of them by Saren. In any event, we're charged with tracking him down, as no one else seems to care or is just too stupid to see the danger he poses. Which leads me to my next point: we have some new crew members. They do care and are not stupid, thus they deserve your respect. Or, at the very least, your cooperation and an amicable relationship with you founded on our mutual interests. As such, if you have not already, please introduce yourselves to them. And to the new crew members, don't act like assholes when interacting with the others on this ship. I have faith in you all that we will complete this mission. That is all."_

Naruto smirked a bit at the announcement, which only widened into a grin as the elevator reached its destination. Stepping off, the blond immediately made a B-line for the med-bay. The doors slid open, and he was met with the sight of Dr. Chakwas. Smiling now, he greeted the woman.

"Hey, how are you, Doctor?"

"Oh, Naruto," she replied, looking up from some files. She was a bit surprised to see him, but his presence wasn't unwelcome. "What brings you here?"

"I was actually looking for Nihlus. Heard he was here, but it looks like he left," he said, referring to the empty cots in the room. "You wouldn't happen to know where he went, would you?"

"Actually, he's in the next room over," Chakwas supplied helpfully. "When he stumbled through the door, I offered to set him up here, but he said that he just needed a place to collect his thoughts. I could tell he was in severe pain, but I know his type: prideful, but sensible. He'll only accept help if he thinks he absolutely needs it, and will deal with his problems on his own for the most part. Insisting to aid him would only do more harm than good. Besides, I have a feeling he knows the limits of how much he can take on his own. So, if you need to talk to him, I would advise you to tread lightly and not mention his condition."

"Of course," Naruto nodded, entertaining the thought of checking back later very briefly. He ultimately decided against it, though, as he wanted to talk to everyone first, then compile what he thought about them in a report to Shepard. So, saying a quick, "Thanks," to the doctor, Naruto stepped through the door to the backroom.

It closed behind him, as he came face-to-face with Nihlus, who had looked up just as he heard the door slide open. Though he had a pained grimace on his face, the turian beckoned the blond to come further into the room, to the desk he was sitting at. Concerned, Naruto wanted to intervene, to try and coerce Nihlus to seek medical attention, but recalled what he had just finished discussing with Chakwas, staying his tongue. Instead, he simply approached.

"What are you doing here?" asked Nihlus, trying to suppress a pained grunt, though Naruto caught it. He chose not to draw attention to it.

"I'm checking up on everyone, seeing how they're settling in, if they need anything," he said, leaving the statement to linger in the room, not mentioning how Shepard had assigned him to this. "Do you need anything?" he finally asked.

"I'm fine," he replied with an edge to his voice, though, it wasn't directed at Naruto. If the blond had to guess, Nihlus was directing it at himself.

"If you say so," Naruto went on, keeping the condescending tint from his tone. Then, taking pity on the turian, he said, "You seem stressed; like you have a lot to think about. I'll let you sort your thoughts out, come back later. You should probably rest though."

With that, Naruto approached the door, and was about to leave when Nihlus called back out to him. "Wait!"

The blond turned, a bit surprised at the abrupt, pained shout, and saw the Spectre rising to his feet, unsteady, the chair scraping against the floor as it was pushed out behind him. Approaching again, albeit slowly, Naruto stopped at an opportune position in which to catch him should he fall.

It seemed a good plan, as it wasn't long before Nihlus stumbled, and would have fallen hard on the floor if Naruto hadn't acted, catching him and bringing him to the bed in the room where the turian could sit. After he let go, though, Nihlus refused to look at him.

"Thank you," he said, begrudgingly, "though your help was unnecessary."

"I understand. Now, is there a reason you called me back?" he asked, hoping he hadn't caused Nihlus to go completely silent by helping him.

"There's something I need to ask, Uzumaki... no, Naruto." the turian said, catching the blond's attention immediately by addressing him so colloquially. "I feel as if... no, I've come to terms with my morality, and though I will do my damnedest to ensure I see the end of this mission through, I need... reassurance."

The blond listened intently the turian's words. Truthfully, he was more than a bit upset that he was talking the way he was, though kept the anger from his face. He knew that he should be grateful that someone as prideful as he was lead to believe Nihlus was was actually telling him something like this.

"Please, promise me, Saren needs to be brought to justice. Not for me, but for what he did to Eden Prime, to your crew mate, and what he plans to do to the galaxy. Don't let him get away with it."

"I promise," was all he said, looking the turian pointedly in the eyes.

Nihlus nodded. "Then, please, leave me now."

And with that, Nihlus went prone in the bed, and was quickly asleep. Naruto left him, going over everything her had heard from those he talked to, and wondering just what to tell Shepard.

(End):

And there we go. So this will be my final update, personally. At least for the immediate future. If Echo needs help again, I'll probably step in. this was a bit delayed, as my classes started up again not too long ago, which would also attribute to the rushed (to me, at least) ending. Anyway, my cousin should be back in three, maybe four, weeks. I don't really know. He probably doesn't, either. And with that, I bid you, ado.


	11. Extraction

Hey guys. Allow me to first apologize for my prolonged absence. Let me now also say this is the chapter where I probably lose most of you guys. You see, I've made the executive decision to abbreviated this chapter, though not as much as the next one, which will contain both Feros and Noveria in one. You see, I just want to get this section over with, as opposed to my more... methodic pace in the past. There isn't much room for variation in these places, I found them rather dull in the game, and I really want to get to Virmire. So, yeah, I may be rushing, but my passion for this story is dwindling, and I don't want to lose it completely. So just try to enjoy this as best you can.

/

Chapter 11: Extraction

As Naruto exited the med-bay and headed up to the flight deck, part of him considered simply hanging a right and entering Shepard's new office to reveal to the commander what he had learned. The blonde's thoughts were such a jumbled mess, however, that he wouldn't even know where to start. So, instead, he headed for the flight deck, planning to have a little conversation with Joker. While the two hadn't actually had much interaction so far, Naruto thought that the pilot's affable personality would help him relax a bit, even if the conversation was brief.

Just as he was passing by the navigational systems, however, he was stopped by a voice.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant, but if I could have just a moment of your time."

A bit surprised, Naruto turned to find an older man behind him. He was bald, and what facial hair he had was grey. If the blonde remembered correctly, it was the ships navigator. Parsley, wasn't it?

The name didn't matter, he thought, as he responded, "Yes, how can I help you?"

"Sorry to disturb you, but I was just wondering if you knew what the Commander was planning."

Naruto was perplexed by the question, partially because it could be alluding to several different things, but mostly because as an executive officer, the navigator could easily ask the Shepard himself. It lead Naruto to believe there was something deeper to the question.

Deciding to just take the question at face value and humor the man, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Shepard still hasn't told us where we're headed, so I can't be of much help. So what's the problem?"

Looking a bit disheartened, the navigator typed something into his holopad and showed Naruto some data. "Currently, the Commander has identified three points of interest, Feros, Noveria, and our current destination, Therum. None of the planets have anything in common, that I can see, anyway, and I fail to see how Saren would have any interest in any of them. Granted, I don't know his goals, but still. I feel as if we're wasting time, given the distance between the planets' respective systems."

Naruto's brow furrowed as the connotations of what the navigator was saying dawned upon him. "You don't have much faith in Shepard, do you?"

The man looked taken aback by this, but Naruto continued before the navigator had a chance for a rebuttal.

"But why? From what I know, you've worked with Shepard and Anderson before, the latter obviously being in charge, but the former also having a great deal of authority. While Shepard doesn't want his position, at least, not how he got it, that hasn't changed his attitude, as he's always been a bit secretive. That's what the files say. Anderson was also secretive, though, telling his crew information when they needed to know, so the Commander's practices aren't the issue here. So, what is?"

Naruto's tone was both deadpan and probing throughout, and he could see the navigate blanch as he spoke, sweating almost feverishly as he went on. By the end of it, the man was looking at his feet to avoid the blonde's piercing gaze. "It's just, I'm concerned with his actions recently. He basically just let a whole bunch of strangers aboard the ship. There's the krogan at the weapon's lockers, the quarian near the engines, one turian stationed at the Mako and another holed up in the medical offices. He isn't keeping an eye on any of them, and has known them for five hours at most. Understandably, I'm a bit worried."

Naruto noticed that the navigator omitted Ashley from his concerns, though, she was an Alliance soldier, to be fair. However, Colban was as much an enigma as the others. There was no excuse for not mentioning him. In the end, the blonde just sighed, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

"I suggest following the Commander's orders and actually getting acquainted with the crew before letting your passive racism start turning you paranoid. Now, if that's all," he said, before simply walking away and leaving the navigator standing there feeling a bit ashamed and more than a little annoyed. Naruto didn't have time for people like him.

The blonde continued forward with no more distractions, passing several monitors on the way before coming to the cockpit. Although he didn't turn around, or make any indication that he knew Naruto was there, Joker asked, "What can I do you for?" still staring intently at his interface, fingers dancing across his keyboard.

"Joker," Naruto responded in greeting, causing the man to momentarily stop what he was doing and turn to him. He soon went back to work, though.

"Didn't expect to see you here, Lieutenant. Shepard's usually the only one to come up here nowadays."

"I take it that means you haven't yet met the new members we've taken aboard."

"Nope," Joker said. "I expect them to stay put for the most part, and my ass is pretty much married to this seat, so I doubt we'll meet for a while. You know, until I'm relieved from duty for a bit or they actually wander up here. Other than that, the Commander tells me you think they're nice people... for the most part."

"Really?" asked Naruto, a bit surprised that Shepard would be talking about him, regardless of the situation. In any event, Joker's easygoing attitude did calm Naruto a bit, and that was really all he had went their for. "I see. Well, thanks for the chat, but I should be going."

Naruto was just turning when the pilot called back to him.

"Hold up. That was too short for a conversation. At least, for a normal person. Only Shepard can get away with that. You came to me, so you must have wanted something, something you got since you're leaving, and I honestly doubt it was simply to ask if I had 'met the new members we've taken aboard'. You're not that simple, at least, I don't think so. So the question remains, what did you want?"

Joker's tone had turned more serious, something which caused Naruto to pause for a bit. However, his shock was quickly overcame as he chuckled a bit.

"Heh, no hiding anything from you, I guess."

"Yeah, well, I'm a people person. What do you expect? Now please tell me what this was all about."

"Truthfully, I just wanted a little talk. Something to pass the time."

"Then talk to Presley. I'm sure he'd love to bitch to you for an hour," said Joker, causing Naruto to mentally kick himself for not remembering the navigator's name sooner. "So why me?"

"As you said, you're a people person," Naruto shrugged. "I got a lot on my mind. You make me forget the troublesome bits. In short, talking to you is calming."

For a moment, their was silence. Then, it was joker's turn to chuckle.

"That's the corniest thing I've ever heard, but whatever. If what you say is true, than I'll probably talk to you later. See you, Uzumaki."

"Yeah, see you later," Naruto responded, turning around and leaving the pilot to his work, much calmer than he was before as he went to talk to Shepard.

/

"So in essence, you didn't learn much."

Naruto was now standing in front of Shepard. He had just given his report on what he had learned from the crew, and was waiting for what the commander's next orders were, ready to swallow a lump of bitter anger at his words. That is, until he actually heard what he had to say.

"That's what you expect me to say, isn't it? Perhaps because deep down you feel that way? But I disagree with that. I see the necessity of forming relations before you really get to learn something about somebody. No, Uzumaki, I think you did a good job. Keep it up."

"I don't quite understand, Sir," responded Naruto, seeking some understanding to the commander's words.

"I'll make this simple. The reason I'm using you as a go-between is exactly as I stated; I don't believe that the crew would be entirely honest with me if I were to ask questions of the... personal nature. That requires a relationship to be built, which requires time I seem to be sorely lacking at the moment. I still feel the need to understand them, though. Don't get me wrong, I intend to get more personal time with them all, but as of now, you are pivotal in helping determine who would work well together. Besides, you're doing me a favor. How could I possible angered by that."

"I see."

There was a slight pause.

"I understand you had a talk with Presley."

"You could say that," the blonde replied, a bit of annoyance in his voice at remembering the navigator.

"You should know that he's old fashioned in his ways, and hasn't had much actual interaction with other species. He means well, but just ignorant. That doesn't mean he isn't logical. He'll come around."

"If you say so, Commander," Naruto said, not quite convinced. It did bring up another issue, though. "He did mention where we were headed, though, as well as other potential destinations. He didn't see any connection between them, or significance, period, and neither do I. So what's so important about Therum, Feros, and Noveria?"

"No, I suppose you guys wouldn't know much about those places," Shepard said, almost to himself. Then, he just shrugged. "It's actually pretty simple. Remember that mystery voice on Tali's recording? One of the Councilors identified it as Benezia, an asari matriarch. She apparently has a daughter, Doctor Liara T'Soni, an expert in Prothean technology, who is part of an excavation on Therum. Noveria has recently had several large shipments moved in, some type of advanced technology. Form reports, it sounds like their pieces of Geth. As for Feros, the place has recently gone dark, almost like Eden Prime. That's why those places are important."

"Okay, that makes sense," the lieutenant nodded to Shepard. "Thanks for clearing that up."

"Fifty hours, that's how long until we reach our destination. Take it easy until then. Get to know the squad a bit better until then, and please keep what your doing for me secret."

"Yes, Sir," the blonde said, and with a salute, left the room.

/

Two days had passed quickly, during which Naruto had done as the commander had asked and socialized more with the crew. In passing, he had learned Shepard had met with them all and actually got off rather well with them all. Or, at the very least, he was respected by everyone.

In any event, the blonde now found himself in the loading bay before Shepard, which had been cleared simply because of what was behind the commander. It was time to put the Mako through its paces, and because of how it was to be unloaded from the ship, the room had been cleared to minimize injury.

Next to Naruto was Tali, the only other person in the room. The blonde knew she had been chosen for her technical skill to aid in operating the vehicle. As Shepard gave a basic rundown of the mission, Naruto once again went over the roles. Basically, there was a driver (Shepard), a gunner (himself), a someone to ensure that the Mako was operating a peak efficiency (Tali). Having no experience with the machine, Naruto was a bit curious with how it would preform, but was nonetheless confident in his skills to troubleshoot whatever went wrong.

He vaguely heard Shepard explain that communications hadn't been heard from the dig site for a while, and as such, to assume there were hostiles. They would be dropped a mile outside just in case there were civilians there and they were simply having trouble with their systems. The girl seemed to comprehend rather quickly and was eager to go, though it was easy to see she was also nervous.

Before long, Joker came over the internal communications system and announced that they were nearing their destination, prompting Shepard to order the squad into the small terrestrial craft, Tali first, than Naruto, then Shepard.

The first thing the blonde realized was more spacious than he had thought. He expected it to be incredibly cramped, and while it was still a tight fit, there was definite elbow room. Seeing Shepard had already settled into the driver's seat and Tali was acquainting herself with the diagnostics station, Naruto climbed up to the gunner's nest and strapped himself in, starting the systems.

Joker's voice soon came on the radio. _"I hope you guys are ready, because we're nearly at the drop zone. Thirty seconds out."_ The man then began informing them of every ten second interval, and from outside the vehicle, the blonde could hear the bay doors opening, followed by feeling everything lurch as the man reached five seconds.

With the Mako now started, Shepard rolled the transport off of the Normandy, putting it into free-fall far above the planets surface. As they approached the ground, the commander only said, "Brace for impact," as he engaged the thrusters to soften the landing a bit. As they hit the ground, though, the whole craft still jolted quite a bit, prompting him to ask, "How are we looking, Tali?"

"Everything's still running smoothly, Commander."

"Right, then let's head out."

As he said that, the engine revved and soon they were traveling at an impressive pace. Naruto kept a look out for anything suspicious, surveying their surroundings.

The ground they were driving on was largely loose gravel and solidified magma, with a small path weaving through pools of lava, meaning Shepard had to take it easy, as if he got too close to the edge of the path, it would mean the end of all of them.

It didn't help that further ahead Naruto spotted a small group of geth, including rocket troopers and a giant, animal like geth. The slight, "Shit," he muttered caught the attention of Shepard, as the blonde than asked, "Tali, what is that thing?"

As the young quarian looked forwards and saw the thing, she simply said, "It's an armature. My people used to use them for heavy industrial work. It's heavily armoured and its retrofitted pulse weaponry could easily tear this thing apart. You need to take it down before it spots us!"

"Use the heavy cannon, Uzumaki. Try to take out the shock troopers along with it. I'll position us a bit closer."

"Right," was the blonde's response as Shepard maneuvered onto a slightly more stable patch of gravel. Using the targeting computer, he locked onto the giant synthetic being. Then, at the push of a button, Naruto fired the Mako's cannon at the geth, before turning the machine gun onto the unsuspecting group.

The shell impacted the armature's kinetic barriers, bringing them offline temporarily, but other than some superficial damage, it was protected from the majority of the damage. The foot soldiers weren't so lucky, quickly getting mowed down by concentrated automatic fire.

With Naruto concentrating elsewhere, however, the armature was given the opportunity to fire back, launching a shimmering ball at the Mako. Seeing this, Tali was quick to cry, "Watch out!" to which Shepard responded by hitting the thrusters, sending the vehicle into the air and barely over the blast from the geth, which impacted a little behind them.

The sudden take-off, though, surprised Naruto, as did the awkward landing and abrupt acceleration forward so as to avoid slipping into a lava pool. As he was still firing at this time, his shot naturally went wide as he lost control, the bullets flying all over the place before settling on the side of a nearby cliff.

The shots chipped away at the rock, sending vibrations throughout the whole structure, up to a rock balanced precariously on its edge. A small earth-slide occurred, wherein the massive potential energy of the boulder quickly shifted into kinetic as it rolled down the cliff face.

Picking up the vibrations, the armature could only look to its side just as the giant rock crashed into it, crushing its durable frame and sending its white coolant everywhere. The small team could only look on in surprise.

"Let's try to be a bit more efficient next time," Shepard said, turning around to see Naruto sit back up in his seat after being tossed about by the impromptu flight. He could only chuckle at that in embarrassment.

/

Minutes later, the Mako slid around a corner, nearly on its side, as a barrage of shots whizzed after it, several impacting the hull of the vehicle. In response, the turret turned to face the group of pursuing geth and blasted them into oblivion with a thunderous roar.

A curtain of dust was kicked up, and from within, one could see a growing light, which was soon shot at the Mako, dispelling the smoke and revealing and unmarked armature. With ease, the Mako weaved around the blast, before beginning to circle the mechanical menace. It attempted to track the crew, turning slowly in circles as the tires of the vehicle just kicked up more dust.

Unable to track them, the armature had no defense when they rammed its back legs, causing it to collapse on the vehicle and get caught up riding on its top. The inertia that built up carried through with the armature as the Mako violently braked, sending it tumbling across the ground before it smacked into a rock wall.

Not letting up, the cannon just unloaded on the machine, rockets and bullets quickly reducing the giant geth into a pile of scrap. From inside the safety of the vehicle, Shepard just sighed.

"So much for being efficient."

Soon after they had taken on the initial onslaught of geth, they had come across an abandoned security checkpoint that had been commandeered by more of the synthetic beings. Having immediately come under fire from turrets and troopers, the crew tried to take a small path around the complex, but found that it still lead into the base. So, Shepard decided on another alternate route. Using a gentle slope on a large rock, he launched the Mako off it and went over the gates.

While they had scrapped the rear tires off the adjacent wall going over it and had a rough landing, the biggest problem was that a bunch of geth had stormed out after them and set off an alarm, alerting everyone else in the area of their presence, and while they did deal with their initial pursuers, they now had to face who knows how many more forces, probably laying an ambush for them.

Still, they had a mission, and they would see it through. So, undaunted, Shepard drove them through a nearby tunnel at an easy pace. Naruto was wary, though, constantly scanning the now confined surroundings, making sure Tali didn't have to divert any axillary power to defend the Mako.

As they reached the end, Naruto immediately spotted a pair of geth toting rocket launchers. Acting before they could, he launched a missile at them, obliterating the geth. Shepard just drove over the shattered remains, stamping them into the ground with the Mako's heavy tires.

There was another tunnel further ahead which the group quickly ducked into. Again, no troubles were encountered inside, but when they emerged, they were now on a rocky crag. To the left was a large pool of magma, nothing preventing them from driving off the edge and to their doom. To the right was a large cliff face, a pipeline running along side it, probably to supply some facility with fuel. Behind them was obviously the tunnel they came from, and in front was a winding path, guarded with turrets and squads of geth, including a few armatures and a larger version of the four-legged machines.

"Try to pick them off, Uzumaki. I'll maneuver around the shots."

Naruto just responded by targeting the turrets with more missiles and using the machine gun on the regular troops. The bullets tore the machines apart, as the blonde efficiently split his concentration and fire between targets.

And, while they were continuously being shot at, Naruto's quick take-down of rapid-fire units and the range between them and the targets made it so he only had to maneuver slightly, ensuring that the lieutenant's shots remained dead-on for the most part.

Soon enough, it was only the Mako and the giant armature that remained on the rocky crag. Naruto began firing on it, but after only a few moments saw that it had both superior shields and armor than that of its predecessors.

"Tali, what's up with this one?" asked the blonde as he fired a missile directly at it before resuming regular fire, all of which just seemed to be shrugged off.

Looking up from her station and out the window, Tali just shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. It just seems like a large armature to me, but who knows what the other geth actually did with it."

"Hang on, I'll drive around it. Look for a weak spot."

Shepard hit the acceleration, driving in a circle around the geth. He noticed that aside from following them with its optics, it made no movement. It unsettled the commander. Still, he gave the order to start firing, slowly approaching the armature as he circled.

A few moments and several missiles later, the shield had yet to drop, and no structural weak point was identified. Naruto was the first one to lose his patience.

"Why don't we just ram it? I mean, the cliff ends right there, we should be able to just push it off."

"I'm a bit concerned with why it hasn't attacked us yet, though," Tali voiced. "Maybe it doesn't register us as a threat. If it's defective, we should just drive by it."

"Whatever the case, its obvious we're wasting time," Naruto growled. "Let's just go."

"Agreed, we have more important matters to attend to."

And with that, the Mako backed off and began to drive away. Naruto kept his eyes on the giant geth, though, and was glad he did when he saw a large pulse ball get fired at them.

"Turn now!" he yelled abruptly, almost making Shepard flip the whole vehicle, but it was better than getting hit by the attack. They were still affected by the large explosion that fractured the ground, but only enough to shake them up a bit.

Facing the geth again, Shepard swore, seeing that it was fast approaching and was whipping its neck about like a giraffe would to fend off a lion. He quickly reversed, watching as the mechanical beast tore through a protruding rock near them, causing it to crumble.

On the upside, this brought down the behemoth's shields, something Naruto capitalized on by opening fire right away. However, Shepard saw the geth's optics glow red, before it began attacking with a surprising aggression. It kept firing at them, ripping up the crag, as well as lashing out with its neck when it got close enough. The commander was hard-pressed to keep dodging, and Naruto found it nigh impossible to maintain a bead on the monstrosity for more than three seconds.

To top it off, the geth managed to confine them to a small area by destroying the ground around them, and what they could drive on was quickly vanishing. With little room to maneuver, Naruto managed to nail the armature with a rocket in the optics.

For a second, the crew thought they had put the machine out of commission as it wavered a bit, their view of the impact spot obscured by smoke. When it vanish, though, they saw that while the area was heavily damaged, it was still very much operational. And it seemed somehow enraged, as shown by it charging directly at them.

"Shit," Shepard swore, seeing that their options were limited. The ground left and right of them was much too damaged to escape on, and the crag just ended in a pool of magma behind them. As the armature was upon them, he told the team to, "Hang on," as he hit the thrusters, launching them just over the geth as it ran off the cliff and vanished in the magma.

Their heavy landing, though, compromised the stability of the weak ground, meaning that they had to race away from the area. They managed to avoid the ground buckling out from under them and following the giant armature, if only just, and went into another tunnel.

On the other side was a small blockade of three geth with rockets. Shepard just drove through them and their barricade, tired of dealing with the machines. His frustration just rose when he saw that the only way forward was much too narrow to pilot the Mako through. It was also unlikely they could drive over the small canyon, and since it was surrounded by more lava, going around wasn't an option either.

With a sigh, he simply shut it down, opened the hatch, and said, "I'll call in Joker to pick the Mako up after we secure the objective. We continue on foot."

Tali and Naruto were behind him, all drawing weapons as they walked through the narrow passage. It opened back up soon enough, and inside the now wider canyon, they could see fortifications heading up a small hill.

"Uzumaki, take point," said Shepard, surveying the cliffs around them for potential hostiles. The blonde complied, ducking down behind a small barrier before moving up cautiously, the other two remaining hidden by the barriers behind him.

Peaking out from one of the barriers near the front, Naruto saw a geth patrol nearing. He quickly ducked down, motioning for his companions to do the same. While he could no longer see them, he could hear their steps clearly, the scraping of rock on metal getting continuously louder until they began to pass by him, not seeing them as they went down to exit the canyon. As soon as they finished passing by him, Naruto began to focus his powers, before launching them at the geth patrol, lifting them all into the air and suspending them their.

The geth were easy targets for Shepard and Tali, and when they finally fell to the ground as motionless scrap heaps, the two moved up to Naruto. They could see that he was breathing a bit heavily and was sweating a bit.

"What's wrong, Uzumaki?" asked Shepard, crouching down to help him off the ground.

Naruto wiped his brow and slowed his breathing before replying, "It's nothing to worry about. I just overexerted myself."

As he said that, he looked over to the ten destroyed geth.

"Just take it easy. We're almost there."

Up ahead was an encampment. Shepard spotted it before-hand and had motioned them to stop. On the far end, a sniper tower was visible, and milling about down below were at least a dozen geth, several with rockets, all most likely on high alert.

"Okay, there should be a factory up ahead after this. Just remember to hit your marks, move quickly," at this moment the commander peaked around cover and fired one shot, decommissioning the sniper in the tower and alerting the other geth to their presence, "and keep your heads down."

/

The team had pretty much mowed down everyone in there way to the factory, never stopping long enough for the geth to get a bead on them. However, it was when they actually got to their destination that they ran into some real trouble. Along with the expected troops waiting for them, as soon as they arrived, a drop-ship also showed up, unloading a few more soldiers as well as an armature. And if that wasn't enough to contend with, there were also a few much more agile geth, who had a tendency to leap from walls and ceilings, keeping a low profile and taking potshots with mounted snipers.

Somewhere along the line, Naruto was tasked with eliminating the pests while Tali and Shepard focused on the armature and foot soldiers, either disrupting their shields or placing shots into their processors. The blonde's simply solution was to meticulously trap his synthetic targets int the air with singularities and blast away at them, quickly dispatching them before he focused his energy into protecting the rest of his team with a barrier, allowing them to peak around cover more readily and not give the geth a chance to rest.

When they did finish, Naruto quickly let down the barrier, exhausted by the effort he had expended recently. While it was true others with proper mastery over their biotics wouldn't have this problem, it was because their implants wouldn't let them. All implants had a cooldown period that prevented those who used it from using their powers consistently, due to the fact that the implants themselves couldn't handle that much stress, let alone the body, salarian or krogan. And since it was the implants themselves that honed the natural power of these individuals, they really couldn't just ignore the cooldown. Though it wasn't unheard of of someone making modifications to their implants to allow them to be overtaxed, doing so almost always resulted in permanent neurological damage.

Naruto, though, didn't have that problem. Despite his extraordinary biotic powers, the military had still tried to saddle him with a top of the line implant, just to make him an even more valuable asset. Problem was, all the specialists said he was incompatible. His handlers, though, didn't listen, and had hi m outfitted for one. Literally seconds after installation, before he even consciously channeled energy into the implant, it short-circuited, and the doctors had to act fast to remove the thing before any real damage could occur. It just gave those who wanted to all the more reason to dissect him. In any event, because he didn't have to worry about overloading a capacitor, his biotics could both be used more often and be stronger, though he became fatigued easier.

While the crew may not have known the specifics it appeared that they quickly came to understand he got worn-out quickly, and thus allowed him a brief reprieve before moving on into a tunnel leading underground. Their target was part of an excavation team, after all, so with any luck, she would be down there and the geth wouldn't have gotten to her.

That, of course, didn't mean the geth didn't have a presence in the mines. As soon as the group had exited the tunnel leading to the surface, they found themselves under fire while up on some catwalks. They returned fire, picking off the hostiles in the immediate vicinity and moving downwards, trying to find Doctor T'Soni.

They quickly boarded an elevator that would take them to a lower level, doubting that she would be near the surface. Luckily, the geth weren't nearby, giving Naruto a chance to actually survey the caves. It was clear that a science team had been down there, what with barriers to block off pathways that had little importance or were too dangerous, to the equipment littered along the bottom of the mine. They stopped before reaching the bottom, though, quickly unloading and dispatching any geth that came after them, before loading into another elevator and continuing down.

Lack of maintenance soon made itself apparent though, as the console began to spark and their lift just stopped, causing them all to stumble.

"Damn it!" Shepard swore, nearly going over the edge and falling to the platform below. He did just end up jumping down though, seeing as the distance wouldn't cause any real harm and they did have to move on, prompting the others to follow. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to climb back up, not that they would be able to get the lift working again, so they would need to find a new exit when the time came.

In a good turn of event's, though, they didn't appear to be alone, and the geth weren't their company. "Hello, is anyone there?" asked a voice just below them, probably hearing their approach. "I'm in need of some assistance. If you could help, that would be great."

Making use of the stairs, the team moved down, seeing an asari trapped behind a barrier in front of them, also inside a small force-field inside of that. A relieved look came across her face as she noticed them.

"Can you hear me out their? I'm trapped and need help."

Cautiously, Shepard approached, asking, "Who are you? What happened here?"

"My name is Liara T'Soni, researcher of Prothean technology and head of this expedition."

Her voice came through distorted, though was still easy to make out.

"Look, I don't know what happened out there. One minute I'm working, the next the geth are attacking. I hid behind this barrier because I knew they couldn't get to me, but must have triggered a secondary system. I've been trapped for three days, unable to move. Can you find a way to get me out?"

"Looks like it's your lucky day," Shepard replied. "We'll think of a way to get you out."

"Behind me is a control that should release the barriers hold on me. The only problem is you need to find a way around the barrier curtain. I wouldn't know how to go about that, though."

"I remember seeing a mining laser on the ground floor when we were on the elevator. Maybe that could disrupt the barrier," supplied Naruto.

Liara looked at him, panicked, "No, the variances in the energies would just cause the barrier to implode, and the resulting shockwave from the created vacuum could end up collapsing the cave."

"We tunnel under then," Naruto shrugged.

"That could work," she replied, visibly comfortable with that idea compared to the last. "But be careful. There was a krogan with the geth. They've been trying to bypass the barrier for a while now, but don't know where they went. They could be anywhere."

"We'll keep that in mind. Just sit tight and we'll have you out soon," said Shepard, not giving the doctor a chance to reply before leading his squad further down.

Once on the ground, they moved over to the laser, quickly hacking it and aiming it at the wall under the barrier. The rock crumbled away, revealing a small path through to a chamber on the other side. The chamber had a slightly concave floor, centering on a large pillar in the middle that led up for at least a dozen stories. In front of them was a small console, which Shepard activated, setting the lift they were on in motion. They were soon on the floor they had just left, only behind Liara.

"Oh, great, you're here," the woman said, relieved. "That console over there should deactivate my containment field."

Looking to where she directed with her head, the team saw it just to Naruto's left. Casually, the blonde turned to it and brought down the containment field, causing the asari to fall to the ground with a grunt, before turning to them and thanking the group.

"You have no idea how much I appreciate you coming along."

"No time, we still need to get you out of here," Shepard sounded off, turning back to where they came from. "I assume this elevator takes us back to the top level."

"It should," Liara replied, prompting everyone to get on. "I still can't even begin to understand how all this happened. I mean, why would the geth come here?"

"We have reason to believe Matriarch Benezia is involved."

"Benezia?" Liara asked, more than a bit surprised.

"A turian named Saren is also involved, looking for something called the Conduit," Tali filled in, ignoring the exclamation. "Considering you are an expert on the Protheans, Benezia probably told him about you and he wants you to help him find it."

"The Conduit? I've never even-..." Liara was stopped from completing her sentence as the world around them rumbled, causing them to stumble a bit. "Oh no, that laser must have triggered a seismic event. We need to leave."

"Way ahead of you," said Naruto, activating the elevator as Shepard called Joker.

"We need a pickup, Joker. How soon can you be here?"

"_About eight minutes, Commander."_

"Make it five."

They soon came to the top of the elevator shaft, only to see a yellow krogan with a small escort of geth., a barrier behind him.

"Give up the scientist," he growled out, before giving a cocky sneer. "Or don't. That would be more fun for me."

Naruto sent a look over to Shepard, who nodded before conveying it over to Tali, who repeated the action. All at once, the three drew weapons and dove behind cover, Shepard dragging the unprepared scientist with him.

Naruto quickly condensed some of his biotic energy and sent it at the krogan, causing the reptilian-being into his contingent of geth and into a wall, smashing one and leaving the rest to be picked off by and Tali. This just pissed the krogan off, though, as he brushed the blast off and the charged the blonde, getting to top speed before increasing his mass and rushing him with the force of a freight train.

Naruto, shot a few rounds into the krogan, hitting him as his shields were still down, but not slowing him in the least. At the last second, he vaulted over the beast, blasting him once more to increase his velocity further and causing the krogan to crash into the large central column, fracturing it deeply and causing the platform they were on to slip.

"Everyone, to the door, now!" Shepard shouted over the roar of the mine collapsing, deactivating the barrier, and revealing just how badly the rest of the tunnel was crumbling. Naruto ran over to them, jumping off the platform and ready to follow, only to hear the shifting of rubble and and roar of bloodlust. Turning, he saw the krogan get back up, clearly injured and pissed as he once again charged blindly. Naruto sighed.

"Stay down!"

With that, he blasted the krogan back once more, slowing him enough that he couldn't get to them just as the elevator platform slipped even more sending the krogan downwards several stories. This really didn't bother the blonde or anyone else as they race for the exit, avoiding falling debris. It wasn't that far from the catwalks they came in from, but they were collapsing like everything else, pushing everyone to get up them as quick as they could, before rushing out the tunnel, just as the roof caved in fully, sending a plume of smoke racing after them.

But, they had made it, and as tired as they were, that was all that mattered.

"Is this what it's normally like with you guys?" asked Liara, panting, though not as heavily as the exhausted Naruto, who had spread himself out on the ground to get some rest.

"I didn't sign up for this," Tali muttered to herself.

Shepard just looked them over, then to the sky as he saw the Normandy approach.

"Something tells me we should get used to it."

/

If you haven't noticed by now, I take liberties with certain events from the main game. As far as I know, and I could be wrong, the quarians are only familiar with the typical geth platforms, maybe the more sophisticated combat ones as well. I'm pretty sure geth stalkers, colossi, and the like are actually adapted by the geth themselves. What I'm trying to say is, armatures probably aren't retrofitted quarian industrial machines. Then again, I'm too lazy to check the codex entry.

Anyway, if you want the details of my absence, or my new update strategy, look at the latest chapter of Rosario Kitsune. I also want a lot of feedback on this chapter, as I'm still trying to get back into the groove of things. That being said, I'm not sure why so maany of you like this in the first place. If you could tell me, that would be great. Now, onto the last piece of business.

As you may have noticed, I recently stopped the poll on my next story, and I've decided to post the results here, since I'm pretty sure this was where I announced the poll in the first place.

Bringing up the rear is Family Problems. Not that surprising, as it was a crack-fic, and with the demographic I target, I didn't expect many votes for it. Still, it got eleven votes.

Next up was Necessity. Shame, as this was my personal preference, though I assume people didn't like the style enough of the preview, or it didn't give enough information.

Sixty-six people say I shouldn't start a new story. The rest of the internet disagree.

An honorable mention goes to The Power Within, especially since I never got around to getting a preview for it out. People apparently liked the idea regardless.

In third place is the Freelance Monsters. With twenty percent of the vote, this was always a strong option, as it had a well-written review and was original enough to gather a nice little following. Sorry, this won't be continued as of yet.

And so, the winner is... Blind Them, Kazuki! Not surprising, as this was the frontrunner from the very start. Once again, it was original, and it was a bit retro, so I'll be glad to start this as soon as this fic is finished with the first arc (game).

So again, thanks to all who voted and... wait a second... folks, breaking news! There was a miscount! Tying for first place is Hand of the Artist! This actually was a surprise, especially considering when I checked before I left, this was doing just better than the folks who said I shouldn't start a new story. I have no idea how this happened, but am pleasantly surprised nonetheless. This will be continued alongside BTK, though both will be low priority.

So if you want to take a look at the results, the poll should still be up, you just can't vote anymore. I'm sure you're excited if your story was picked to continue. I'll see you all next time with an update for MIB. Until next time. Once again, sorry for fucking up my own shit. I got over it, now you get over it. Acolyte out.


End file.
